About This Stamp
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 10 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.
The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb, 1944 by Arshile Gorky. © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Achilles, 1952 by Barnett Newman. © 2009 The Barnett Newman Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 1948-C, 1948 by Clyfford Still. © Clyfford Still Estate Orange and Yellow, 1956 by Mark Rothko. © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko/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. Convergence, 1952 by Jackson Pollock. © 2009 Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 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 Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 34, 1953-54 by Robert Motherwell. © Dedalus Foundation/VAGA, New York, NY Romanesque Façade, 1949 by Adolph Gottlieb. © Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation/VAGA, New York, NY
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Ethel Kessler
Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director who has worked with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, professional service organizations, and now, the United States Postal Service.
After earning a B.F.A. in visual communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer and project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency. Her work was distributed internationally on subjects such as Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Renovation of American Cities, and the Bicentennial of 1976. She was also responsible for exhibits in Morocco, Botswana, and El Salvador.
In 1981, she established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton Government reorganization, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Television, the National Park Service, and the American Institute of Architects.
She has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development program for more than 25 years. As an art director for USPS, Kessler has been responsible for creating more than 500 stamp designs, including the Breast Cancer Research stamp illustrated by Whitney Sherman. Issued in 1998, the stamp is still on sale and has raised more $98 million for breast cancer research. Other Kessler projects include the popular and highly regarded Nature of America 120 stamp series, a collaboration with nationally acclaimed nature illustrator John Dawson, the 12-year Lunar New Year series with Kam Mak, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes 10 stamps issued in 2003, a 2016 pane of stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the 2023 stamp honoring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And many, many others.