A Jackson Pollock for 44 cents? New stamps celebrate the work of America’s Abstract Expressionists

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Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of artsy types in line at the post office on Thursday. The U.S. Postal Service is issuing a set of 10 commemorative stamps featuring the work of Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko.

‘The individual stamps are gorgeous, but they also are presented together in a pane that is conceived as a work of art itself,’ a Postal Service spokesman told Culture Monster. ‘The stamps are different sizes and placed as if they were pieces hanging in a gallery.’

Each pane includes information about the paintings and a brief note about Abstract Expressionism, the postwar movement known for its artists’ bold spirit and spontaneity.

The Pollock is the wall-sized ‘Convergence,’ an oil-on-canvas creation he finished in 1952, four years before his death.

Here are the other nine paintings:

‘Achilles’ (1952) — Barnett Newman

‘Asheville’ (1948) — Willem de Kooning

‘Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 34’ (1953-54) — Robert Motherwell

‘The Golden Wall’ (1961) — Hans Hofmann

‘La Grande Vallée 0’ (1983) — Joan Mitchell

‘The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb’ (1944) — Arshile Gorky

‘Orange and Yellow’ (1956) — Mark Rothko

‘Romanesque Façade’ (1949) — Adolph Gottlieb

‘1948-C’ (1948) — Clyfford Still

The works were selected by Ethel Kessler, a Postal Service art director, and Jonathan Fineberg, an art history professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The first-class postage stamps can be purchased in panes of 10 for $4.40 at any post office or online.

First-day-of-issue postmarks are available by mailing an envelope (postmarked by May 12, 2010) to:

Abstract Expressionists Stamp
c/o Postmaster
1200 William St.
Buffalo, NY 14240-9998

--Karen Wada

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