Center: Undated photograph of Cooper
Right: Revised artwork used for final stamp production
Photograph courtesy Anacostia Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Developing stamp portraits for popular and historically significant figures often requires the Postal Service to balance competing viewpoints. Each stamp needs to feature an enduring, classic image that meets the public's preconceptions while also acknowledging the more intimate perspective of the subject's family.
Postal Service executives, researchers and artists frequently discuss proposed artwork based on a stamp subject's public persona. However, the public usually hears little about the role of the family or estate. Their influence is profound: Often, their comments lead to minor alterations in stamp design; sometimes, their input results in a completely new piece of art.
Anna Julia Cooper
The artwork for the 2009 stamp honoring Anna Julia Cooper was modified long after the design was approved — and just as the stamps were ready to be printed. Because researchers had found no immediate family members or relatives, illustrator Kadir Nelson relied on photographs to create his powerful image of a scholarly and regal Cooper. However, after the final design was unveiled, a woman contacted the Postal Service with additional information: Her mother, as a child, had been taken in by Cooper, and she did not feel that the artwork looked like the Cooper she had known. In response to her descriptions and concerns, the stamp art was modified. Cooper's features and hair were softened, and her shoulders slightly altered, adding a bit of age and a touch of the nurturing quality so strongly recalled by a child she had sheltered.
Right: Final stamp artwork
Photograph courtesy Ronald Reagan Library
Ronald Reagan
The Ronald Reagan stamp, issued in 2005, was also significantly shaped by family input. Reagan's family saw the first design — a strong but serious portrait — and rejected it. Eager to communicate more of Reagan's famously warm personality, they supplied a favorite photograph of the 40th president in which he was smiling and casually dressed.
Stamp artist Michael J. Deas was then faced with a challenge: He had to honor the image of Reagan preferred by the family while also conveying the appropriate formality. The final stamp art, featuring the expression from the photograph with a classic suit and deep-green background, combines the dignity of the presidency with Reagan's natural warmth.
Judy Garland
Similarly, the 2006 Judy Garland stamp was reworked to address her family's vision. Artist Tim O'Brien had developed an initial portrait based on Garland's appearance during her early film career. Although the family acknowledged that the illustration was lovely, they wanted Garland portrayed as a more mature woman. They also requested that the stamp commemorate the breadth of her career as both film star and best-selling recording artist.
Center: Final stamp design
Right: Final pane design
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O'Brien created a new illustration using a publicity photo from the 1954 movie A Star Is Born as a resource. This image of Garland evoked a time in her life when she was both an Academy Award nominee and a legendary live concert performer. The new stamp design was combined with a photograph of the teenage Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, to form a final pane expressing the enormous range of this great entertainer.