#2958 – 1995 55c Love Series: Cherub

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U.S. #2958
55¢ Love
Love Series

Issue Date: May 12, 1995
City: Lakeland, Pennsylvania
Printing Method:
Lithographed and Engraved
Perforations:
11.2
Quantity: 300,000,000
 
The non-denominated Love stamp was printed before the 1995 rate change took effect. Postal authorities released the stamps in time for Valentine's Day without a denomination (U.S. #2948-49).  This 55-cent denominated version was issued later in the year, at the same time as the 32¢ variety. The Love stamps were issued in sheets and booklets.
 
Terry McCaffey, manager of Stamp Development at the time, had been inspired by a postcard picturing two child angels from Raphael’s masterpiece, Sistine Madonna. McCaffey thought they would be perfect for Love stamps.
 
C. Douglas Lewis, a curator at the National Gallery of Art and vice chairman of the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee warned that child angels, also known as putti, were associated with death, not love. Some art historians believe Raphael’s painting had been intended for the funeral of Pope Julius II, and that the child angels are resting on top of his coffin.
 
The stamps were issued regardless, and media coverage helped stir the controversy. One mother reportedly called to complain that the she had used the Love stamps on her daughter’s wedding invitations and that the event had been jinxed by the “death angel stamps.”
 
In spite of the controversy, the 1995 Love stamps were so popular that they weren’t replaced until 1997.
 

Birth of Rose O’Neill

2001 Rose O'Neill illustration stamp
US #3502i pictures O’Neill’s Kewpie with Kewpiedoodle Dog.

Illustrator and writer Rose Cecil O’Neill was born on June 25, 1874, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  O’Neill was the highest-paid female illustrator of her time, most famous for creating Kewpie, the most well-known cartoon character until Mickey Mouse.

O’Neill was the daughter of a bookseller and teacher/musician.  She displayed a joy and talent for art and writing at a young age and entered a children’s drawing competition when she was 13.  She won first prize.  The judges of that art competition worked for local periodicals and helped O’Neill find work providing illustrations several Omaha publications.  The income she received help to support her family.

In 1893, O’Neill’s father decided to take her to New York to find better opportunities.  They stopped at the World’s Columbian Exposition along the way, where O’Neill saw large paintings and sculptures in person for the first time – previously she had only seen them in books.

2001 Rose O'Neill Mystic First Day Cover
US #3502i – Mystic First Day Cover

In New York, the 15-year-old O’Neill lived at the Sisters of St. Regis convent.  The nuns went with her to sell her work to publishers.  She sold several drawings and was commissioned to create more.  Her illustrations were featured in True magazine on September 19, 1896, making her the first published American woman cartoonist.  Soon, O’Neill was the only woman on the staff at Puck magazine, and she also provided illustrations for Harper’s and Life plus advertisements for Jell-O.

US #3151j – Mystic First Day Cover

O’Neill moved to Missouri to be with her family and illustrated two books for her then-husband and assistant editor at Puck magazine – The Lions of the Lord (1903) and The Boss of Little Arcady (1905).  O’Neill wrote and illustrated her own novel, The Loves of Edwy, in 1904.  One reviewer said her illustrations possessed “a rare breadth of sympathy with and understanding of humanity.”

1995 Cherub stamp
US #2958 – O’Neill’s Kewpies were cherub-like cupid characters.

In 1908, O’Neill created her “Kewpie” characters, whimsical cherubs based somewhat on Cupid, the Roman god of love.  O’Neill dreamt about the characters and said that they were “a sort of little round fairy whose one idea is to teach people to be merry and kind at the same time.”  Her Kewpies first appeared in a comic strip in Ladies’ Home Journal in 1909, followed by Woman’s Home Companion and Good Housekeeping.

1997 Scootles stamp
US #3151j pictures a Scootles doll, inspired by another O’Neill character that was created in 1925.

The Kewpies became popular very quickly and in 1912, a German porcelain company began producing Kewpie dolls.  Later versions of the dolls were the first mass-marketed toys in America.  Kewpies were eventually included in the advertisements for Jell-O, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and Sears as well as many home goods including dishware, rattles, soap, stationery, and more.  The success of Kewpies made O’Neill a millionaire, but she continued to work.

O’Neill was active in the women’s rights and suffrage movement and was the inspiration for the song “Rose of Washington Square.”  She studied sculpture under Auguste Rodin.  Her sculptures were largely inspired by her dreams and mythology and were exhibited in New York and Paris.

1970 Woman Suffrage stamp
US #1406 – O’Neill provided several illustrations for the women’s suffrage movement.

O’Neill spent her later years at the family home, Bonniebrook, in Missouri.  She had lost most of her fortune supporting her family and friends and investing in properties.  By the 1940s, her Kewpies were no longer popular, and photography began replacing illustration.  O’Neill died on April 6, 1944.  Her family home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

 
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U.S. #2958
55¢ Love
Love Series

Issue Date: May 12, 1995
City: Lakeland, Pennsylvania
Printing Method:
Lithographed and Engraved
Perforations:
11.2
Quantity: 300,000,000
 
The non-denominated Love stamp was printed before the 1995 rate change took effect. Postal authorities released the stamps in time for Valentine's Day without a denomination (U.S. #2948-49).  This 55-cent denominated version was issued later in the year, at the same time as the 32¢ variety. The Love stamps were issued in sheets and booklets.
 
Terry McCaffey, manager of Stamp Development at the time, had been inspired by a postcard picturing two child angels from Raphael’s masterpiece, Sistine Madonna. McCaffey thought they would be perfect for Love stamps.
 
C. Douglas Lewis, a curator at the National Gallery of Art and vice chairman of the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee warned that child angels, also known as putti, were associated with death, not love. Some art historians believe Raphael’s painting had been intended for the funeral of Pope Julius II, and that the child angels are resting on top of his coffin.
 
The stamps were issued regardless, and media coverage helped stir the controversy. One mother reportedly called to complain that the she had used the Love stamps on her daughter’s wedding invitations and that the event had been jinxed by the “death angel stamps.”
 
In spite of the controversy, the 1995 Love stamps were so popular that they weren’t replaced until 1997.
 

Birth of Rose O’Neill

2001 Rose O'Neill illustration stamp
US #3502i pictures O’Neill’s Kewpie with Kewpiedoodle Dog.

Illustrator and writer Rose Cecil O’Neill was born on June 25, 1874, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  O’Neill was the highest-paid female illustrator of her time, most famous for creating Kewpie, the most well-known cartoon character until Mickey Mouse.

O’Neill was the daughter of a bookseller and teacher/musician.  She displayed a joy and talent for art and writing at a young age and entered a children’s drawing competition when she was 13.  She won first prize.  The judges of that art competition worked for local periodicals and helped O’Neill find work providing illustrations several Omaha publications.  The income she received help to support her family.

In 1893, O’Neill’s father decided to take her to New York to find better opportunities.  They stopped at the World’s Columbian Exposition along the way, where O’Neill saw large paintings and sculptures in person for the first time – previously she had only seen them in books.

2001 Rose O'Neill Mystic First Day Cover
US #3502i – Mystic First Day Cover

In New York, the 15-year-old O’Neill lived at the Sisters of St. Regis convent.  The nuns went with her to sell her work to publishers.  She sold several drawings and was commissioned to create more.  Her illustrations were featured in True magazine on September 19, 1896, making her the first published American woman cartoonist.  Soon, O’Neill was the only woman on the staff at Puck magazine, and she also provided illustrations for Harper’s and Life plus advertisements for Jell-O.

US #3151j – Mystic First Day Cover

O’Neill moved to Missouri to be with her family and illustrated two books for her then-husband and assistant editor at Puck magazine – The Lions of the Lord (1903) and The Boss of Little Arcady (1905).  O’Neill wrote and illustrated her own novel, The Loves of Edwy, in 1904.  One reviewer said her illustrations possessed “a rare breadth of sympathy with and understanding of humanity.”

1995 Cherub stamp
US #2958 – O’Neill’s Kewpies were cherub-like cupid characters.

In 1908, O’Neill created her “Kewpie” characters, whimsical cherubs based somewhat on Cupid, the Roman god of love.  O’Neill dreamt about the characters and said that they were “a sort of little round fairy whose one idea is to teach people to be merry and kind at the same time.”  Her Kewpies first appeared in a comic strip in Ladies’ Home Journal in 1909, followed by Woman’s Home Companion and Good Housekeeping.

1997 Scootles stamp
US #3151j pictures a Scootles doll, inspired by another O’Neill character that was created in 1925.

The Kewpies became popular very quickly and in 1912, a German porcelain company began producing Kewpie dolls.  Later versions of the dolls were the first mass-marketed toys in America.  Kewpies were eventually included in the advertisements for Jell-O, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and Sears as well as many home goods including dishware, rattles, soap, stationery, and more.  The success of Kewpies made O’Neill a millionaire, but she continued to work.

O’Neill was active in the women’s rights and suffrage movement and was the inspiration for the song “Rose of Washington Square.”  She studied sculpture under Auguste Rodin.  Her sculptures were largely inspired by her dreams and mythology and were exhibited in New York and Paris.

1970 Woman Suffrage stamp
US #1406 – O’Neill provided several illustrations for the women’s suffrage movement.

O’Neill spent her later years at the family home, Bonniebrook, in Missouri.  She had lost most of her fortune supporting her family and friends and investing in properties.  By the 1940s, her Kewpies were no longer popular, and photography began replacing illustration.  O’Neill died on April 6, 1944.  Her family home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.