T3515

Masters of American Photography

“Steeple,” by Paul Strand

Cover Announcement 

This very interesting and artistic set of new stamps will feature 20 of America's most important and influential photographers as they illustrate dramatic photographs taken by each. The stamps show some of the most creative photography our nation has ever produced, and, for that reason alone, they will be a wonderfull addition to any First Day Cover collection.

It was a diffcult task for me to determine how to proceed in cachet development. Since these photographers mostly worked during the era of black and white, that is how the stamps are presented. Naturally, I didn't want to do my cachets in black in white, nor did I merely want to reproduce a photograph of each. It was quite a dilemma.

The final solution worked out great. As a first step, I developed a list of subject matter that each photographer specialized in. A hand painted cachet was created that corresponded with an area of interest for each photographer. For example, a southwestern desert landscape was done for an Ansel Adams. That succeeded in bringing an abundance of color to each cachet, but I felt the need to represent the black and white format that these photographers worked with. Accordingly, each of the covers in this set will have an original artwork black and white portrait of the master photographer whose work is depicted on the stamp.

All the components of the various covers work very well with each other. Since these talented photographers took such diverse images of America with their cameras, this set of twenty unique hand painted cachets present just that - an interesting portrayal of a broad scope of Americana.

I'm anxious for collectors to experience this unusual set in person. Masters of American Photography - set of twenty