About This Stamp
With this 25th stamp in the Black Heritage series, the U.S. Postal Service honored writer Langston Hughes on the centennial of his birth. The stamp art is a 1946 black-and-white photograph of Hughes taken in New York City by the renowned photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who was a friend of Hughes.
Cartier-Bresson’s portraits are known for their spontaneous, intuitive quality that reveals the essence of their subject. Born in France in 1908, Cartier-Bresson has had his photography shown in museums and galleries around the world. In 1999 the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution mounted a retrospective exhibition of his portraits.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Richard Sheaff
First Day of Issue Ceremony
First Day of Issue Date: February 1, 2002
First Day of Issue Location: New York, NY