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USPS News: Philatelic Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 21, 2001
Stamp Release No. 01-043
UNITED STATES AND MEXICO HONOR ARTIST WITH POSTAGE STAMP
Postal Service Continues Its Celebration of Fine Arts With Frida Kahlo Stamp

Frida Kahlo commemorative stampWASHINGTON, D.C. – Frida Kahlo, the world-renown Mexican artist best known for her striking self-portraits, will be honored by the U.S. Postal Service next month with the issuance of the Frida Kahlo commemorative stamp on June 21 in Phoenix, Ariz. This is the first Hispanic woman to be honored with a U.S. postage stamp. The Mexican Postal Service will issue a similar Frida Kahlo stamp on the same day.

The U.S. ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. (MST) at Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 North Central Avenue. The 34-cent Frida Kahlo stamp will be available at Phoenix post offices starting June 21. It will be available at post offices across the country beginning the following day.

“The Postal Service has a proud tradition of honoring those special people who have had a significant influence on American history, art and culture,” said Benjamin P. Ocasio, Vice President, Diversity Development, for the Postal Service, who will be the dedicating official for the event.

NEW INFORMATION ADDED
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2001
POSTAGE STAMP NEWS ALERT - FRIDA KAHLO U.S.

 Please be advised that the Frida Kahlo U.S. commemorative postage stamp, scheduled for issuance in the United States on June 21 at Phoenix Art Museum in Phoenix, AZ, will not be a joint issuance with Mexico.

For questions about the Mexican stamp issuance, and to place orders, please contact:

Lic. Jacquelin Calderon Garrido
Jefe del Departamento de Promocion Filatelica Servicio Postal Mexicano
Netzahualcoyotl No. 109-6 piso Col. Centro C.P. 06080 Mexico D.F.

Telephone: 52 5 722 96 74
Fax: 52 5 722 96 72
Email: fila@sepomex.gob.mx

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“The Frida Kahlo stamp allows us to reach out across communities to let everyone know that this organization has a commitment to diversity that involves both our customers and our employees. Our stamp program is a wonderful reflection of this commitment,” he said.

Joining Ocasio will be Charles Davis, District Manager, Postal Service; James K. Ballinger, Director of the Phoenix Art Museum and Skip Rimsza, Mayor of Phoenix.

Phoenix Art Museum is currently featuring the exhibit “Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Twentieth-Century Mexican Art: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection” at the museum’s Steele Gallery until June 24. The Gelman Collection is widely regarded as the world’s most significant private holding of 20th century Mexican art, and contains the painting featured on the stamp, Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait with Necklace.”

“Phoenix Art Museum is proud to have been chosen to host this prestigious event and provide an opportunity for people to see the original painting featured on the stamp,” said James K. Ballinger, director of Phoenix Art Museum.

Kahlo was born in Coyoacan, Mexico, on July 6, 1907. Stricken by polio in early childhood and seriously injured in a streetcar accident at the age of 18, Kahlo endured severe pain throughout her life. The artist’s physical suffering, her inability to bear children, and her tumultuous marriage to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera are reflected in much of her work.

While the subject of Kahlo’s art was primarily autobiographical, her style was influenced by 19th century art and Mexican folk art traditions. During her lifetime she exhibited her paintings in New York City, Paris and Mexico City.

After her death in 1954, Kahlo’s audience grew. Her work has significantly influenced Chicana artists in the United States, and since the mid-1970s she has been a role model for women in the Mexican-American and feminist communities.

The stamp art features an oil-on-metal self-portrait painted in 1933 and signed Frieda Kahlo. Until the late 1930s, she spelled her name with an “e”, in the German manner—although it is spelled Frida on her birth certificate.

Designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Ariz., the pane includes 20 stamps of one design, a selvage photo and the quotation: “I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.” The color photograph of Kahlo on the selvage is a carbro print made by renowned portrait photographer Nickolas Muray. Muray did not date his photographs, but this one was probably taken in the late 1930s.

To see the Frida Kahlo stamp, and other forthcoming stamps and stationery in the 2001 U.S. stamp program, visit www.usps.com and click on “Stamp Release Schedule.” To see previous releases, select “Index of Stamp Issues.”

All current stamps and other philatelic products, as well as a free philatelic catalog, are available by calling toll free 1 800 STAMP-24. A selection of current stamps and gift items are also available online at the Postal Store.

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TECHNICAL DETAILS
Issue: Frida Kahlo
Item Number: 451200
Denomination & Type of Issue: 34-cent commemorative
Format: Pane of 20 (1 design)
Issue Date & City: June 21, 2001, Phoenix, AZ 85026
Artist: Frida Kahlo, Painting Courtesy National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature
Selvage Photographer: Nickolas Muray, Courtesy George Eastman House
Designer: Richard Sheaff, Scottsdale, AZ
Art Director: Richard Sheaff, Scottsdale, AZ
Typographer: Richard Sheaff, Scottsdale, AZ
Modeler: Joseph Sheeran
Manufacturing Process: Offset/Microprinting “USPS”
Printer: Ashton-Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printed at: Sterling Sommer, Tonawanda, NY
Press Type: Akiyama, 628
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 55 million stamps
Paper Type: Nonphosphored, Type III
Gum Type: Water-activated
Processed at: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Colors: Black, Cyan, Yellow, Magenta
Stamp Orientation: Vertical
Image Area (w x h): 0.84 x 1.41 in./21.336 x 35.814 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 0.99 x 1.56 in./25.146 x 39.624 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 9.0 x 7.375 in./228.6 x 187.326 mm
Plate Size: 80 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: “P” followed by four (4) single digits
Marginal Markings: © 2000 USPS • Price • Plate Position Diagram • Plate Numbers Side selvage text and portrait of Frida Kahlo • Bottom selvage Text
Catalog Item Number(s): 451240 Full Pane of 20 w/plate no.— $6.80
451230 Block of 10 — $3.40
451220 Block of 4 — $1.36
451261 First Day Cover — $0.55
Postal Retail Store
Item Number(s): 451240 Full Pane — $6.80

HOW TO ORDER THE FIRST DAY OF ISSUE POSTMARK
Customers have 30 days to obtain the first day of issue postmark by mail. They may purchase the new stamps at their local post office, affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address an envelope (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to: FRIDA KAHLO STAMP, POSTMASTER, 4949 E VAN BUREN STREET, PHOENIX AZ 85026-9991.

After applying the first day of issue postmark, the Postal Service returns the envelope through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. Requests for first day of issue cancellation must be postmarked by July 21, 2001.