Staying within the lines was never Julia de Burgos’s style. Rather, the celebrated Puerto Rican poet dedicated her life — and writing — to defying convention. A revolutionary at heart, de Burgos authored more than 200 poems between the 1930s and ‘50s, exploring issues of love, feminism, and social equality.
So when the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development team considered the design of the Julia de Burgos stamp, the 26th issuance in the Literary Arts series, they deemed it only appropriate to bend some artistic boundaries. Since the 1995 Tennessee Williams issuance, the series has retained a branded look of formal, realistic portraits.
“As with all issuances in the series, we wanted an illustration that would convey the spirit of the person’s work,” says Terry McCaffrey, Manager, Stamp Development. “Julia’s poetry is a bit more abstract, so we wanted something that was more interpretive.”
McCaffrey and art director Howard Paine were drawn to the vibrant, stylized work of Canadian artist Jody Hewgill.
“We had been fond of her work for quite a while,” McCaffrey says, “but couldn’t find quite the right subject for her.” That is, until Julia de Burgos.
“My style is definitely not based on realism,” says Hewgill, whose work has been commissioned by clients from Rolling Stone magazine to the renowned Arena Stage theater in the nation's capital. “It has a bit of a dramatic element to it, very much inspired by Art Deco” — the period when de Burgos was at the height of her writing.
Though illustrating a stamp was a new challenge for Hewgill, catering to the restrictions of a small canvas came naturally. “That was easy for me, because it’s how I work,” she explains. “My compositions tend to be iconic in their simplicity, but they’re layered with emotion, mood, and poetic symbolism.”
To capture de Burgos’s likeness and spirit, Hewgill started by creating three sketches — each a variation of de Burgos’s head and shoulders with the Río Grande de Loíza in the background. De Burgos had grown up along the river, and it also served as the subject of her most famous poem.
Julia de Burgos
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“With all the trials and tribulations of Julia’s life,” Hewgill explains, “I felt that the current in the river served as a good metaphor for all the emotions running like a current within her.”
Using a rich blue for both the river and the shadows on de Burgos’s face, Hewgill painted a bold portrait that stands out from past Literary Arts issuances. But by maintaining elements of the series — the branded typography, the placement of the portrait, a background image — Hewgill and the stamp development team found a way to honor de Burgos’s life and infuse fresh style into a well-loved series. The balance, in fact, is rather poetic.
Read more about the Literary Arts series in an April 2009 interview with Terry McCaffrey, Manager, Stamp Services.