Abstract Expressionists
In celebration of the abstract expressionist artists of the 20th century, art director Ethel Kessler and noted art historian Jonathan Fineberg (Gutgsell Professor of Art History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) selected ten paintings to feature on this colorful pane of self-adhesive stamps. Kessler used elements from Barnett Newman’s Achilles (1952) to frame the stamps. The arrangement of the stamps suggests paintings hanging on a gallery wall. For design purposes the sizes of the stamps are not in relative proportion to the paintings. The pane also features selvage text and a quotation by Robert Motherwell.
Each stamp includes the artist’s name as well as USA and the 44-cent denomination. Verso text identifies each painting and briefly tells something about each artist.
Hans Hofmann’s oil-on-canvas painting, The Golden Wall (1961), measures 59 1/2 inches by 71 1/2 inches. The painting is part of the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago.
Hans Hofmann, The Golden Wall, 1961, oil on canvas, Photography © The Art Institute of Chicago.
Adolph Gottlieb’s oil-on-canvas painting, Romanesque Façade (1949), measures 48 inches by 35 3/4 inches. The painting is part of the collection of the Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Mark Rothko’s oil-on-canvas painting, Orange and Yellow (1956), measures 91 inches by 71 inches. The painting is part of the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York.
Arshile Gorky’s oil-on-canvas painting, The Liver is the Cock’s Comb (1944), measures 75 1/4 inches by 100 3/8 inches. The painting is part of the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York.
Clyfford Still’s oil-on-canvas painting, 1948-C (1948), measures 80 7/8 inches by 68 3/4 inches. The painting is part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.
Willem de Kooning’s painting, Asheville (1948)—oil and enamel on cardboard—measures 25 9/16 by 31 7/8 inches. The painting is part of The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
Willem de Kooning, Asheville, 1948. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Barnett Newman’s painting, Achilles (1952)—oil and acrylic resin on canvas—measures 95 1/8 inches by 79 1/8 inches. The painting is part of the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Jackson Pollock’s oil-on-canvas painting, Convergence (1952), measures 93 1/2 inches by 155 inches. The painting is part of the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York.
Robert Motherwell’s oil-on-canvas painting, Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 34 (1953-54), measures 80 inches by 100 inches. The painting is part of the collection of the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo, New York.
Joan Mitchell’s oil-on-canvas painting, La Grande Vallée 0 (1983), measures 102 inches by 78 inches. The painting is privately owned.
La Grande Vallée 0, 1983 by Joan Mitchell. Private Collection © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy Joan Mitchell Foundation and Edward Tyler Nahem.
The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb, 1944 by Arshile Gorky. © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Romanesque Façade, 1949 by Adolph Gottlieb. © Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation/VAGA, New York, NY
Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 34, 1953-54 by Robert Motherwell. © Dedalus Foundation/VAGA, New York, NY
The Golden Wall, 1961 by Hans Hofmann. © 2009 The Renate, Hans & Maria Hofmann Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Asheville, 1948 by Willem de Kooning. © 2009 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
La Grande Vallée 0, 1983 by Joan Mitchell. Private Collection. © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy Joan Mitchell Foundation and Edward Tyler Nahem.
Achilles, 1952 by Barnett Newman. © 2009 The Barnett Newman Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Convergence, 1952 by Jackson Pollock. © 2009 Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Orange and Yellow, 1956 by Mark Rothko. © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
1948-C, 1948 by Clyfford Still. © Clyfford Still Estate