U.S. #5596
2021 55¢ Emilio Sanchez – En el Souk
Issue Date: June 10, 2021
First Day City: Miami, FL
Type of Stamp: Commemorative
Printed by: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printing Method: Offset
Format: Pane of 20
Self-Adhesive
Quantity Printed: 18,000,000
Emilio Sanchez was one of a handful of modern travel artists. He frequently visited the Caribbean and Latin America. His paintings captured their local architecture, snapshots of daily life, and the ongoing urban changes of the times.
After settling in New York in 1952, Sanchez, who was used to Cuba's warmer climate, spent his winters in more temperate areas. As always, he carried his sketch book and camera to capture inspiration for his paintings. He found significant inspiration studying the dramatic effects of the sunlight on the various structures he explored.
In Casablanca, Morocco, Sanchez was particularly interested in the bright white vernacular buildings. He also explored color in his paintings of sunsets, clotheslines, and tropical fruits and flowers. But he was drawn to the architecture – broken shutters and doors, open windows, and geometric patterns created from light and shadows. Even in the rare cases when he included people in his paintings, they were highly stylized – appearing simply as silhouettes or shadows.
Sanchez's paintings were well received at home and in the countries he visited. In 1974, he won first prize in the prestigious San Juan Biennial (Puerto Rico), earning him international acclaim.