About This Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service captures the classic beauty of still-life paintings in a booklet of 20 stamps featuring 10 stunning portraits of fruits and vegetables.
The artist was inspired by historical still-life traditions. He used the same classical method that artists have worked with for hundreds of years. After sketching his subject, he transferred the drawing to canvas mounted on hardboard. Working in oil, he underpainted in burnt umber and then added color, slowly building up to the desired opacity and intensity.
The models for the paintings were real fruits and vegetables; because fresh produce has a relatively short shelf life, he also took photos of his still-life compositions to finish his work. Each stamp features a collection of one kind of fruit or vegetable: red and black plums, heirloom and cherry tomatoes, carrots, lemons, blueberries, red and green grapes, lettuces, strawberries, eggplants, and figs.
Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamps with existing art by Robert Papp.
Fruits & Vegetables are being issued as Forever® stamps in booklets of 20. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Stamp Artist
Robert Papp
Born and raised in New Jersey, Robert Papp attended DuCret School Of Art, learning how to craft a painting, whether it be a book cover or a piece of fine art.
Papp’s oil paintings are widely known, having been featured on the covers of best selling novels and countless children’s books, in worldwide advertising campaigns, and each month on the cover of Cooks Illustrated magazine.
After many years of illustrating commercially, Papp now spends his time painting at a more leisurely pace, creating expressive figurative works and still lifes. His goal is to communicate familiar things in an exceptional way, bringing awareness to the simple beauty in the world.
Papp lives in historic Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Lisa, an author and illustrator of children’s books.
Existing art by Papp appears on the 2020 Fruits & Vegetables stamp issuance.