USPS to Honor Linda McCartney With New Photography Stamp Collection

The U.S. Postal Service will honor photographer and activist Linda McCartney with a new set of stamps featuring her work, bringing five of her photographs to a pane of 20 that will be issued in September. The stamps celebrate McCartney’s life and art through nature and still-life photography, while the surrounding selvage features a black-and-white self-portrait showing McCartney behind her camera. Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed both the stamps and the pane.

USPS will formally dedicate the stamps during a first-day-of-issue ceremony on September 25 at 11 AM ET at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The event is open to attendees who register in advance, with program participants still to be announced.

McCartney, who lived from 1941 to 1998, became known for photographing some of the biggest musicians of the 1960s in a style that USPS describes as relaxed, intimate and full of life. In 1968, her portrait of Eric Clapton appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, making her the first female photographer to have her work featured on the magazine’s cover.

Her camera was not limited to musicians. McCartney frequently photographed her husband, Paul McCartney, along with their children and animals, and she was drawn to smaller moments from everyday life. Her work went on to be exhibited around the United States as well as at the Royal Photographic Society and the Victoria and Albert Museum in England.

Photography was only one part of McCartney’s public life. USPS is also recognizing her work as an animal rights activist and her role as a prominent figure in the vegetarianism movement, making the stamp issue a broader commemoration of both her artistic career and activism.

USPS says the stamps and related philatelic products will be available through its usual sales channels, including Post Office locations and the Postal Store.