44c 'Orange and Yellow' single

On March 11, 2010, in Buffalo, New York, the Postal Service issued a 44-cent Abstract Expressionists souvenir sheet of ten stamps. Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Maryland, designed the issue.

In celebration of the abstract expressionist artists of the twentieth century, Ethel Kessler and Jonathan Fineberg (Gutgsell Professor Art His-tory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) selected ten paintings to feature on this colorful pane of self-adhesive stamps. Kessler used elements from Barnett Newman's 'Achilles' (1952) to frame the stamps. The arrangement of the stamps suggests paintings hanging on a gallery wall. For design purposes, the sizes of the stamp are not in relative proportion to the paintings. The pane also features selvage text and a quotation by Robert Motherwell. Each stamp includes the artist's name and verso text that identifies the painting and briefly tells something about the artist.

Ashton Potter printed 30 million sheets using the offset process.

Reference: Postal Bulletin (February 11, 2010)