UPDATE: The first day of issue for the “Modern Art in America” stamps will be Mar. 7. The release will be celebrated at New York’s very different but identically named Armory Show at Piers 92 and 94, which opens to the public on the same day when the stamps will be issued.
Should a new stamp be launched in connection with the opening of a commercial art fair? Maybe it should have been more appropriately scheduled at one of the nonprofit museums owning the works on the stamps. (Speaking of which, the USPS still hasn’t provided me with that list of museums. Shouldn’t they be credited?)
I just ordered four sheets. You’ll probably want some too:
Top row: Charles Demuth, “I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold,” 1928; John Marin, “Sunset, Maine Coast,” 1919; Stuart Davis, “House and Street,” 1931; Marsden Hartley, “Painting, Number 5,” 1914-15
Middle row: Georgia O’Keeffe, “Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico / Out Back of Marie’s II,” 1930; Man Ray, “Noire et Blanche,” 1926; Aaron Douglas, “The Prodigal Son,” 1927; Charles Sheeler, “American Landscape,” 1930
Bottom Row: Joseph Stella, “Brooklyn Bridge,” 1919-20; Gerald Murphy, “Razor,” 1924; Marcel Duchamp, “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2,” 1912; Arthur Dove, “Fog Horns,” 1929
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the landmark, controversial Armory Show in New York City, the U.S. Postal Service is issuing this sheet of 12 “Modern Art in America” forever stamps, with masterworks dating from 1913-1931. On the back of each stamp is information about the artist.
You can pre-order them here. But neither the press release nor the order page says when they will actually be issued. Nor is any credit given to the museum/owners of the originals. I know some of them: The Demuth, for example, is from the Metropolitan Museum.
But instead of trying to cobble together the list, I’ll wait until I hear back from the USPS. I have made repeated queries, starting yesterday, for this information and I’ll update here if I receive an answer.