The third of five stamps in Canada Post’s editorial cartoonist set features Terry Mosher, a long-time Montréal Gazette artist also known as “Aislin.”
Unveiled today, the colourful Mosher stamp features a cartoon from one of his first Gazette assignments—a sketchbook for the 1972 Summit Series, an eight-game hockey series between Canada and the USSR. The cartoon and stamp show a Canadian beaver squaring off against a Soviet bear on the ice.
Mosher began his career drawing portraits and caricatures of tourists in the 1960s. He was one of the founders of Artists’ Alley, an open-air gallery on Trésor Street in Québec, Qué. – a popular attraction. He freelanced editorial cartoons to the Montréal Star before being hired there full time in 1967. Five years later, he moved to the Montréal Gazette, for which he continues to draw two cartoons a week. His 52nd book – Aislin’s Favourite COVID Cartoons from Around the World – was released this September.
Believing “no person or no thing is ever perfect,” Mosher upholds cartoonists’ satirical role despite the controversies and criticism cartoons can provoke, Canada Post quoted him as saying.
“We all have faults and weaknesses,” according to Mosher. “Can we admit as much by laughing at our frailties?”
The Mosher stamp’s official first-day cover (front shown) features a pictorial postmark with the artist’s iconic nom de plume, ‘Aislin,’ which is a variation of his elder daughter’s name.
Altogether, Mosher has drawn more than 14,000 cartoons; some have appeared in Time, the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times International Edition, Punch and National Lampoon. He also earned two National Newspaper Awards, a gold National Magazine Award and was the youngest person to be inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame at age 43.
He was also inducted into the Canadian Cartoonists Hall of Fame, is the president emeritus of the Association of Canadian Cartoonists and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2002.
The back of the official first-day cover (shown) includes Mosher’s biographical details alongside a portrait of the long-time cartoonist.
FIVE-STAMP SET
Canada Post began unveiling the five-stamp set on Oct. 4 with an issue celebrating Serge Chapleau, the editorial cartoonist at La Presse.
The second stamp, featuring award-winning Globe and Mail editorial cartoonist Brian Gable, was unveiled yesterday.
The series’ two remaining stamps will pay tribute to Duncan Macpherson, of the Toronto Star, on Oct. 7 and Bruce MacKinnon, of the Chronicle Herald, on Oct. 8.
A live panel discussion with the cartoonists and Ian Macpherson, Duncan’s son, will be held online on Oct. 8 at 11 a.m. (ET). Register for the webcast here.
The editorial cartoonist stamps and collectibles will be available via canadapost.ca and postal outlets across Canada on Oct. 8.