1968 RW35 MERGANSERS

Description

Claremont “Bud” Pritchard was born on June 18, 1910.  When he was only seven or eight years old, he had an experience he would never forget. On a winter day he was out helping his father shuck corn. While the two were working a snowstorm came up. Almost on cue, thousands of Mallards landed to feed in the field. Young Claremont found this fascinating and he promptly forgot about work. For hours he sat aboard the wagon watching the ducks. They, in turn, were feeding so intently that they let the horses and wagon come within a few feet of them. The event made a lasting impression.

His earnings were meager in the drought-ridden thirties but he saved his money to take correspondence courses in art. He received certificates from the Washington School of Art and later from the Federal School of Art and later from the Federal School of Art (now Art Instruction Schools) of Minneapolis. He did his drawing on nights and weekends while he was working in the family grocery store for his uncle.

His training was interrupted when he enlisted in the Air Force in 942. While in the service, he saw duty in India, the Middle East, North Africa, Italy, and the Pacific. He was discharged in December, 94 at the rank of staff sergeant.

In civilian life, he gained increasing recognition with his artwork. He was hired as a staff artist by the director of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in 1948. He did technical publications, brochures, maps, Game Bird Stamp. His chief responsibility, however, was illustrating the Commission’s publication, Outdoor Nebraska.

At the same time he was designing the jacket for Bert Popowski’s the Pronghorn Antelope, and illustrating Paul Johnsgard’s Animal Behavior. In addition, he contributed numerous illustrations to Mammals of North America by Hall and Kelson. His work has been exhibited at Joselyn Memorial Gallery in Omaha, Nebraska, the Rochester (New York) Museum, and the Davenport, Iowa Museum. He has also had one-man displays at the Kearney Nebraska State College and at the Hastings Museum, Hastings, Nebraska.

In the Duck Stamp contest of 1952 and 1956 he won second place, and he received a conservationist award from the Nebraska Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America. He was an early president and charter member of the Audubon Naturalists’ Club in Lincoln, Nebraska, and had a long membership in the Nebraska Ornithologist’s Union.

Mr. Pritchard married the former Mary Hanson, who later became assistant professor of zoology at the University of Nebraska.

Mr. Pritchard died in March 1975, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

——————–THE ART——————–

Hooded Mergansers was painted in watercolor wash. The print is from a stone lithograph; hand pulled with black ink on white Rives paper. The prints were hand signed in pencil and numbered in an edition of 750 prints, two artist’s proofs numbered and ten printer’s proofs numbered. The image size of the print is 6-5/8″ x 9-1/4″.

——————–THE STAMP——————–

Hooded Mergansers…Engraved by the Federal Bureau of Engraving from the original artwork. Printed in brown, green, and black ink. The stamp sold for three dollars. Postal records show 1,811,754 stamps sold. First day of sale was July 1, 1968.