About This Stamp
With the 21st stamp in the Literary Arts series, the U.S. Postal Service honors poet, novelist, and educator Robert Penn Warren on the centennial of his birth. This distinguished man of letters was America’s first official poet laureate (1986–87) and a three-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, the only writer, as yet, to have won the prize in poetry (Promises: Poems, 1954–1956, in 1958, and Now and Then: Poems, 1976–1978, in 1979) as well as fiction (All the King’s Men, 1947).
Artist Will Wilson based his portrait of Warren on a 1948 photograph obtained from the Center for Robert Penn Warren Studies at Western Kentucky University. The background art recalls scenes from Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, All the King’s Men, and from the Academy Award-winning film inspired by the book.
Stamp Art Director
Carl T. Herrman
As an art director for the U.S. Postal Service® for more than 15 years, Carl T. Herrman designed more than 50 stamps and guided more than 250 stamp projects, including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, and Comic Strip Classics. He also served as art director for five of the Celebrate the Century stamp panes. He has won more than 260 awards for design and design management, including two gold medals from the Society of Illustrators.
Herrman’s career has included positions as Director of Creative Services and adjunct professor at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, and Director of Marketing and Publications for the University of California at Irvine. He has provided consulting services for the Smithsonian Institution, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and numerous academic institutions. Herrman lives in Carlsbad,California.