Artist Ruth Asawa (U.S. 2020)

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Announced by the USPS April 3rd, 2020, with no date of issue given: With these stamps, the U.S. Postal Service honors pioneering Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa (1926-2013). Showcasing Asawa’s wire sculptures, the pane includes 20 stamps, with two each of 10 designs, featuring photographs by Dan Bradica and Laurence Cuneo. The selvage features a photograph of Asawa taken by Nat Farbman in 1954 for Life magazine. Ethel Kessler served as art director and designer.

These stamps will be issued Thursday, August 13, in San Francisco, CA.

The stamps may be purchased here. The Scott catalogue numbers for this issue are:

5504 Three Untitled Sculptures from 1958, 1978 and 1959
5505 Untitled Sculpture from 1959
5506 Untitled Sculpture from 1958
5507 Untitled Sculpture from 1955
5508 Untitled Sculpture from 1955, different
5509 Untitled Sculpture from 1980
5510 Untitled Sculpture from 1978
5511 Untitled Sculpture from 1952
5512 Untitled Sculpture from 1954
5513 Six Untitled Sculptures from various years
a. Block of 10, #5504-5513

Further information will appear below the line, with the newest items at the top.

Updated August 6th:
This will have a virtual first day ceremony:

[press release]
U.S. Postal Service Honors Sculptor and Arts Education Advocate Ruth Asawa With Forever Stamps

WHAT: The U.S. Postal Service will dedicate stamps honoring pioneering Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa (1926-2013), who is perhaps best known for her intricate abstract wire sculptures.

News of the stamps is being shared with the hashtag #RuthAsawaStamps.

WHO: Sharon Owens, vice president, Pricing and Costing, U.S. Postal Service

George Takei, trustee, chair emeritus of the board of trustees and founding member, Japanese American National Museum

Jonathan Laib, director, David Zwirner

WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. EDT

WHERE: The virtual stamp event will be hosted on the U.S. Postal Service’s Facebook and Twitter pages. For more information, visit usps.com/asawastamps.

BACKGROUND: Inspired by natural elements such as plants, snail shells, spiderwebs, insect wings and water droplets, Ruth Asawa transformed industrial material into transparent and seemingly weightless works of art that challenged traditional definitions of sculpture. When shown together, her sculptures can evoke an undersea domain, a magical upside-down world or an environment all their own. A tireless advocate of community-based arts education, she is also acclaimed for her drawings, paintings, prints and large public projects.

Showcasing Asawa’s wire sculptures, this pane features 20 stamps, two each of 10 designs:

  • Installation view, three looped wire sculptures (left to right): Untitled (S.114, Hanging Six-Lobed Continuous Form Within a Form With One Suspended and Two Tied Spheres), circa 1958; Untitled (S.077, Hanging Miniature Seven-Lobed Continuous Form Within a Form), circa 1978; and Untitled (S.036, Hanging Seven-Lobed, Multilayered Interlocking Continuous Form Within a Form, With Spheres in the First, Sixth and Seventh Lobes), 1959
  • Untitled (S.039, Hanging Five Spiraling Columns of Open Windows), 1959
  • Untitled (S.157, Hanging Two-Lobed, Three-Layered Continuous Form Within a Form), circa 1958
  • Untitled (S.250, Hanging Seven-Lobed Continuous Interlocking Form With Four Interior Spheres), circa 1955
  • Untitled (S.055, Hanging Asymmetrical Nine Interlocking Bubbles), circa 1955
  • Untitled (S.018, Hanging Miniature Single-Lobed, Three-Layered Continuous Form Within a Form), circa 1980
  • Untitled (S.306, Hanging Miniature Five Interlocking Double Trumpets), circa 1978
  • Untitled (S.030, Hanging Eight Separate Cones Suspended Through Their Centers), circa 1952
  • Untitled (S.042, Hanging Three-Lobed Continuous Form, With a Sphere in the Second Lobe and an Open Sphere Suspended From the Bottom), 1954
  • Installation view, six looped wire sculptures (left to right): Untitled (S.227, Hanging Five-Lobed Continuous Form With Spheres Suspended in the Second, Fourth and Fifth Lobes), circa 1962; Untitled (S.154, Hanging Nine-Lobed, Single-Layered Continuous Form), circa 1958; Untitled (S.142, Hanging Five-Lobed, Multilayered Continuous Form Within a Form), 1990; Untitled (S.155, Hanging Seven-Lobed, Multilayered Interlocking Continuous Form With a Sphere Suspended in the Top and Fifth Lobes), circa 1958; Untitled (S.065, Hanging Seven-Lobed, Multilayered Continuous Form Within a Form With Spheres in the Second, Third, Fourth and Sixth Lobes), circa 1960-1963; and Untitled (S.143, Hanging Five-Lobed, Multilayered Continuous Form Within a Form), 1996

The selvage features a photograph of Asawa taken by Nat Farbman in 1954 for Life magazine.

Asawa began making sculptures in 1947 and soon discovered that, in addition to single-layered sculptures, she could also create continuous or intersecting surfaces. Sensual and organic, these multilayered yet still transparent works created a dynamic interplay between interior and exterior surfaces.

Since her death in 2013, public and critical appraisal of her work has continued to reach wider audiences, with much-lauded exhibitions and publications organized by major museums and galleries across the country.

Ethel Kessler served as art director and designer for this stamp pane.
The Ruth Asawa stamps are being issued as Forever stamps, which means they will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.

Updated July 12th:
Here are the first-day postmarks for this issue:The Digital Color Postmark measures 2.49″ x 1.50″ The pictorial postmark measures 2.54″ x 1.04″The “special” postmark other post offices may use for this issue measures 2.19″ x 1.0″

Updated July 3rd, from the Postal Bulletin:

On August 13, 2020, in San Francisco, CA, the United States Postal Service® will issue the Ruth Asawa stamps (Forever® priced at the First-Class Mail® rate) in 10 designs, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive pane of 20 stamps (Item 476300). The stamps will go on sale nationwide August 13, 2020, and must not be sold or canceled before the first-day-of-issue. The Ruth Asawa pane of 20 stamps may not be split and the stamps may not be sold individually.

With these stamps, the Postal Service™ honors pioneering Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa (1926–2013). Showcasing Asawa‘s wire sculptures, the pane includes 20 stamps, two each of 10 designs, featuring photographs by Laurence Cuneo and Dan Bradica for David Zwirner gallery. The selvage features a photograph of Asawa taken by Nat Farbman in 1954 for Life magazine. Ethel Kessler served as art director and designer for this issuance.

Availability to Post Offices: Item 476300, Ruth Asawa (Forever Priced at the First-Class Mail Rate) Pane of 20 Stamps: No automatic distribution.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:
Customers have 120 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office™ or at The Postal Store® website at usps.com/shop. They must affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

FDOI – Ruth Asawa Stamps
USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64144-9900

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 up to a quantity of 50. There is a 5-cent charge for each additional postmark over 50. All orders must be postmarked by December 13, 2020.

Technical Specifications:

Issue: Ruth Asawa Stamps
Item Number: 476300
Denomination & Type of Issue: First-Class Mail Forever
Format: Pane of 20 (10 designs)
Series: N/A
Issue Date & City: August 13, 2020, San Francisco, CA 94188
Art Director: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Designer: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Existing Art: Ruth Asawa
Modeler: Sandra Lane/Michelle Finn
Manufacturing Process: Offset
Printer: Banknote Corporation of America
Press Type: Alprinta 74
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 18,000,000 stamps
Paper Type: Phosphor, Block Tag
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Processed at: Banknote Corporation of America
Colors: Custom Pantone Black 6, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Stamp Orientation: Vertical
Image Area (w x h): 0.84 x 1.42 in./ 21.336 x 36.068 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 0.98 x 1.56 in./24.892 x 39.624 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 7.93 x 7.12 in./201.422 x 180.848 mm
Press Sheets Size (w x h): 21.61 x 24.596 in./548.894 x 624.738 mm
Plate Size: 180 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: “B” followed by five (5) single digits in two corners
Marginal Markings:
Front: Header: Ruth Asawa — Artist 1926-2013 • Plate number in bottom two corners
Back: ©2020 USPS • USPS logo • 2 barcodes (476300) • Plate position diagram (9) • Promotional text

18 thoughts on “Artist Ruth Asawa (U.S. 2020)”

  1. WOW
    I’m excited and yet worried. I hope they do the stamp ceremony here in SF, there are so many locations they could do the ceremony, The De Younge Museum has many of her wire sculptures, there is also the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School Of Arts, and then the Fountain at the Apple Store adjacent to Union Square.
    I can only hope. Since the Chrysanthemum Global stamp was cancelled to COVID 19.

    • Worried the first-day city might be SF but the ceremony might not be held on the first-day date? San Francisco postal and philatelic communities can always hold a “celebration” ceremony at a later date.

      • There’s Always the First Day of Sale postmark. If the “Official Ceremony” gets cancelled, get your local Postmaster to get one of these. Or, have Both.

  2. 3857-61; 4825-44; 4928-35; 4968-72; 5173a-k; 5212a-l; 5382-91; and now Ruth Asawa. They’re coming more and more frequently. I can’t keep up. USPS I quit.

    • Don’t quit, Dennis, just collect more selectively. Remember you make the rules for your stamp collection. For instance, the criteria for my collection of “Stars & Stripes FDCs” is “cachets that aren’t ridiculously expensive and whose art I don’t think is ugly.” 🙂

      Yours could be “U.S. new issues of less than ten stamps” or U.S. new issues for subjects I like.”

      • I appreciate your encouragement and suggestions but I have collected for about 60 of my 71 years and trying desperately to have one example of each US issue (including booklets and coil varieties). I just can’t do it any more and that blows my collection’s consistency. Maybe it’s time to box it all up (50,000 US and World) and sell it.

        • I feel your angst. I once collected every US and Canadian stamp in blocks of four, plus on FDCs. When both countries ramped up the numbers of stamps to over 100 a year, that did it for me. I cancelled my subscription to Fleetwood FDCs, a very difficult thing, as I had been collecting everything for years. And I stopped buying all issues. Frankly, and if it’s of any comfort, we collectors hadn’t changed. The postal services had. I lost respect for them when they started pandering to niche markets, and issuing multiple stamps for a questionably worthy topic. Nope. I now only buy those I really like. I still get the odd Cdn. FDC, but no US ones anymore.

          • I agree, trying to Keep Up has become something for people who have a “Staff”, and don’t bother asking how much it costs. I helped the daughter of a deceased collector get her father’s collection into “Scott Number” order, so she could get more $$ from a Dealer, when she sold the collection. I think she maybe got Half of Face for the collection, some going back to Scott # 1000.

          • Veering way off topic, but you don’t collect new issues for investment. You collect them for enjoyment. When I go, I doubt my family will get even half the purchase price for my hundreds of books.

            Now, back to the Ruth Asawa stamps!

        • I agree with you, Dennis. I try to collect a sample of all the stamps issued. But it is getting to expensive.
          You have to but a whole sheet. They do sell a block of 4 or 10 any more.

          • Peggy, I am glad I am not alone in this problem of too many issues. This year was already going to be an expensive year and then they add INNOVATIONS set and BUGS BUNNY set. I throw up my hands and get the ones I can and admit I will never get them all. For those sheets that have four or more in the set, I could buy them and wait for the single issues to be available as used stamps from dealers and shows. But even then, I will just never get them all.

  4. I’m so happy, we get a replacement ceremony for the Chrysanthemums Global stamp. Yet not sure how many are going to show up even if we are open, as we still have a statewide shelter in place, and it’s been extended through May. Masks are required, bring hand sanitizer, we’ve been drinking it.

    Did you read my initial post.

    Likely locations

    De Young Museum,
    Asian Art Museum (though I’m not sure they have any Asawa items)
    Ruth Asawa San Francisco School Of Arts.

    Depending on the location it could be AM, but if they are smart they would do it after hrs so 5 Pm or later.

    Zip 94131, 94118, 94102, 94105.

    • I don’t know that it’s a “replacement” ceremony. I think the Bay Area was the logical location and was probably planned or at least hoped-for all along.

      As for after 5 p.m., well, that would involved overtime for the postal workers, and also make it harder for local television to put the story on their early-evening newscasts. Like other major cities, I’m sure your local news runs from at least 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.

  5. HI VSC
    They could have done it in Southern California, though I’m not sure of other locations of her artwork. I guess San Francisco was the logical location, but USPS sometimes doesn’t think logically. The San Francisco Chronicle had a great article in the Datebook section dated April 15, 2020, and they mentioned the stamps.

    The post office has at times made the ceremonies in the evening. You are somewhat correct about overtime, the people here in SF would probably come in later to avoid the overtime issue.

    As far as the news, I have been to at least a hundred ceremonies over the years, and I can count on my hands, and maybe a foot the times I have seen any mention of it on TV. Let alone in the newspaper(s) of the city we are in.

  6. Does anyone know if each of her sculptures have names? I know for Ellsworth Kelly they listed them, but here the USPS doesn’t. Just curious.

  7. From Post Bull JUL 2: USPS #4763xx PN-20 PIC, DCP, ANY-City postmarks, NO Auto-Distrib, No Mention Where in SFO a ceremony is planned. Cannot Split Pane-20.

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