PrintFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts: Liz Carter 202-268-5188
Tom Gaynor 212-330-3570
April 28, 2004
USPS Web Site: www.usps.com
Stamp News Release Number 04-025
SCULPTOR ISAMU NOGUCHI WORK TO BE CELEBRATED ON 20 STAMPS FEATURING 5 WORKS
WASHINGTON - The Postal Service will honor internationally renowned sculptor Isamu Noguchi, with the issuance of a commemorative stamp pane on the 100th anniversary of his birth.
A first-day-of issue dedication ceremony will be held May 18th, at 11:00 a.m. at The Isamu Noguchi Museum, 9-01 33rd Rd., in Long Island City, NY. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
Noguchi was noted for merging Western and Eastern influences and expanding the definition of sculpture. His creations ranged from portraiture and abstract sculpture to graceful meditation gardens, set designs and sprawling landscapes.
The Isamu Noguchi stamp pane will be available at the event and at Long Island City Post Offices May 18 and available at Post Offices and Philatelic Centers nationwide May 19. Five different works by Noguchi are featured on this pane of 20 stamps: Margaret La Farge Osborn, 1937; Black Sun, 1960-63; Mother and Child, 1944-47; Figure (detail), 1945; Akari 25N, circa 1968.
Scheduled to join Peak at the first-day ceremony are Isamu Noguchi Gardens Museum Director, Jenny Dixon; Queens, New York Borough President, Helen Marshall and New York State Council on the Arts Chairman, Richard Schwartz.
Noguchi was born in Los Angeles in 1904. His father, Yone Noguchi, was a Japanese poet and his mother, Leonie Gilmore, an American writer. Raised in Japan until 1918, Noguchi then attended high school in Indiana. After graduating in 1922, he attended a pre-med program at Columbia University in New York City, where he also enrolled at Leonardo da Vinci Art School. He quickly mastered traditional sculpture and soon exhibited his work at the National Academy of Design and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
Throughout his career, Noguchi strived to expand the role of the sculptor. In addition to working with an extremely imaginative range of materials-including wood, stone, marble, steel, bamboo, paper and even water-he also created works on an ever-increasing scale, including gardens that were inspired by Japanese tradition, but clearly marked by Western influence.
In addition to gardens, Noguchi also designed building interiors, courtyards and large-scale landscapes around the world. He created two monumental concrete bridge railings for Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan, and his prominent corporate commissions in the United States included courtyards for Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (now CIGNA) in Bloomfield, CT; two symbolic gardens for IBM headquarters In Armonk, NY; and the Horace E. Dodge Fountain, a Detroit landmark that uses water as a prominent sculptural element.
Fascinated by the theater, Noguchi designed stage sets for renowned choreographer Martha Graham, a collaboration that began in 1935 and continued until the late 1960s. He also created sets and costumes for other choreographers, including George Balanchine, and designed the set for the Royal Shakespeare Company production of King Lear in 1955.
Noguchi received numerous honors throughout his career, especially during his later years. In 1986 he represented the United States in the Biennale, a prestigious art exhibition in Venice, and in 1987 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Ronald Reagan. In 1988 he received the Award for Distinction in Sculpture from the Sculpture Center in New York and the Third Order of the Sacred Treasure in Japan. Isamu Noguchi died Dec. 30, 1988.
Art directed and designed by Derry Noyes, the stamp pane of 20 stamps features five different works by Noguchi. The selvage features a photograph of Noguchi taken by Eliot Elisofon for publication in 1952. Below the photograph is text reading "sculptor 1904-1988" and the following quotation by Noguchi: "Everything is sculpture. Any material, any idea without hindrance born into space, I consider sculpture."
Fifty-seven million Isamu Noguchi self-adhesive 37-cent stamps have been printed. To see the Isamu Noguchi stamp pane and other images from the 2004 Commemorative Stamp Program, visit the Postal Service website and view this news release at www.usps.com/shop. Click on "Release Schedule" in the Collector's Corner.
Current U.S. stamps and stationery, as well as a free comprehensive catalog, are available by toll-free telephone order at 1 800 STAMP-24. A wide selection of stamps and other philatelic items also are available at the Postal Store www.usps.com/shop, and www.postalartgallery.com offers beautifully framed prints of original stamp art for delivery straight to the home or office.
Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. An independent federal agency, the Postal Service makes deliveries to about 141 million addresses every day and is the only service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $68 billion, it is the world's leading provider of mail and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. Moreover, today's postage rates will remain stable until at least 2006. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 43 percent of the world's mail volume -- some 202 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year -- and serves seven million customers each day at its 38,000 retail locations nationwide.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Issue: Isamu Noguchi
Item Number: 456100
Denomination & Type of Issue: 37-cent Commemorative
Format: Pane of 20 with selvage (5 designs)
Series: N/A
Issue Date & City: May 18, 2004, Long Island City, NY 11101
Designer: Derry Noyes, Washington, DC
Engraver: N/A
Art Director: Derry Noyes, Washington, DC
Typographer: Derry Noyes, Washington, DC
Modeler: Joseph Sheeran
Manufacturing Process: Offset
Printer: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. (APU)
Printed at: Williamsville, NY
Press Type: Mueller Martini, A76 Modified
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 57 million stamps
Paper Type: Phosphor 225 PMU, Type II, Block (refers to blockage of selvage)
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Processed at: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Colors: Black in unit #1, Black in unit #2
Stamp Orientation: Vertical
Image Area (w x h): 1.085 x 1.42 in./27.559 x 36.068mm
Overall Size (w x h): 1.225 x 1.56 in./31.115 x 39.624 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 9.5 x 7.125 in./241.30 x 180.975mm
Plate Size: 120 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: "P" followed by two (2) single digits
Marginal Markings: 2003 USPS " Plate numbers " Price
Plate position diagram " Barcode
Catalog Item Number(s): 456120 Strip of 5 - $1.85
456130 Block of 10 - $3.70
456140 Full Pane of 20 - $7.40
456163 First Day Cover Set of 5 - $3.75
456184 Press Sheet - $44.40
456193 Full Pane w/FDC Set5 - $11.15
HOW TO ORDER THE FIRST DAY POSTMARK
Customers have 30 days to obtain the first day of issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, by telephone at 800-STAMP-24, and at the Postal Store Web site at www.usps.com/shop. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:
ISAMU NOGUCHI COMMEMORATIVE STAMP
POSTMASTER
4602 21ST ST
LONG ISLAND CITY NY 11101-9998
After applying the first day of issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by June 17, 2004.