Evening star., 1963-05-19
ART AND THE POSTAGE STAMP
Contest Pays Off in Frasconi Design
BY FRANK GETLEIN
Star Art Critic

The winner Of the competi-
ton for a Science commemo-
rative stamp is a beauty.
The results as a whole are
Disappointing. In looking
over the designs submitted
on commission by five Amer
ican artists or designers, one
is struck by the distance be-
tween the winning design,
the work of Antonio Fras-
conf, and the field.
The field, however, con-
tains some extremely dis
tinguished names: Josef Al
bers, Buckminster Fuller,
Herbert Bayer and Bradbury
Thompson. Yet, when you
anaylze the distinction of the
group, 1t becomes clear that
Frasconi is the only pure
artist and full-fledged artist
in the bunch. Moreover, he
is the only entrant whose
artistic career is based en-
tirely on prints-which is
what stamps are. Small Won
der, then, that he came
through miles ahead Of his
competition and was the
choice of Postmaster General
j. Edward Day.
The winning design by
Frasconi presents the Milky
Way streaming across the
sky like a river, well above
the top Of the globe. The
pale blue Of the general back
ground becomes a deep blue
for the stars of the stream.
The design perfectly ex-
presses the average mans
current understanding of the
frontiers of science, those in
volved in the conquest Of
space.
Biggest disappointment in
the lot was the Albers design,
a simple, flat, utterly mex
pensive window. The SYM
bolism is clear enough.
Science is a window on the
world. So it is. but Mr.. Al
bers has subordinated the
symbolic overtones so COM
pletely to his usual preoc-
cupation with squares and
rectangles that his design
would serve better as a COM
memorative for National
GlazierS' Week.
Buckminster Fuller, the
creator Of the geodesic dome,
has the tops of a couple Of
them with the measuring
lines white on black, less
suited to science, really, than
to honoring either Merca5or
or Fuller.
Herbert Bayer, guiding
spirit of Aspen, the Athens
of Colorado, and longtime
spiritual director of Con-
tainer Corp, the Athens Of
the cardboard industry, is
represented by molecular
structures and by an eclipse
of the sun surrounded by
outgoing arrows. Both would
look fine as Container Corp.
ads accompanied by explala-
tions Of how they symbolic
science and the new age.
Bradbury Thompson Is the
artist most people would as
sociate more with normal
postage stamp design than
any of the others and his
entries are pretty hacky
stuff: Two variations on Vi
truvian man, two uninspired
text pieces, and one arrange
ment of hexagons in various
colors, accompanied, as in a
Container Corp. ad, by an ex-
planation of the color and
geometrical symbolism. In
stamps as in posters-per-
haps as in art at large-if
you have to explain it, it's
no good.
For all that, the winning
design by Frasconi is we'll
worth the effort and raises
the level Of stamp design to a
new high. Clear in symbol
ism, poetic in feeling, the de-
sign links mans oldest SCI
ence, that Of the stars, with
his latest, the exploration of
space.
The low level Of the other
entries should encourage fu-
ture commissioning authori-
ties to concentrate on artists,
possibly on printmakers, Of
demonstrated ability, rather
than people associated with
art such as Mr.. Bayer and
Mr.. Fuller.
From the point Of view
of New Frontiering in art,
having an American artist
Of stature create a new
stamp is a considerable ad-
vance over presidential ap-
proval Of art in general and
over filling the White House
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