Another stamp is coming soon that honors an artist, and that is always good news! (Read about stamps honoring AbEx artists here and industrial designers here.)
On Aug. 24, the U.S. Postal Service will issue a 44-cent “Forever” stamp depicting Edward Hopper’s The Long Leg, a sailboat he painted around 1930 near Long Point Light, Provincetown, MA.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens owns the painting, and the stamp will be unveiled there on the 24th, though it is being issued officially on the same day on Cape Cod, according to the USPS press release. This is the 10th stamp in Postal Service’s American Treasures stamp series, which was started in 2001. Last year’s choice was Homer’s Boys in a Pasture.
It will print only 60 million of the Hopper stamp, so don’t delay if you’d like to buy some. I couldn’t get Homer stamps during the last few months.
I’ve had artists’ stamps on my mind a bit since I mentioned that Lyonel Feininger has a stamp in Germany, but not here. A little later, when writing about Johannes Sveinsson Kjarval, whose picture is on Iceland’s 2000 krona bank note, I stumbled upon a very interesting website. Called Paper Exhibition, and maintained by a collector of money, it shows who’s on various bank notes around the world, by category — including one for artists (not just visual artists).
Because of the Euro, most are now gone, but there’s a 1975 20,000 Italian lire note showing Titian, a 1970 10,000 lire note of Michelangelo (at left). Belgium honored James Ensor in 1995 with a 500 franc note, the Netherlands showed Frans Hals on a 1968 10 gulden note, and Italy struck again in 2000 with a 100,000 lire note showing Caravaggio.
Wouldn’t it be great to have them back (but, no, I’m not advocating the breakup of the Eurozone, just a return of artists on money)?
Paper Money, btw, also shows money honoring writers, scientists, and other categories of the accomplished.
I don’t want to see artists on U.S. money — do you? But I do like the stamps, and anything like that (shopping bags?) that gets great images into the public’s view.
Photo Credits: Courtesy of the USPS (top) and Paper Exhibition (bottom)