Form & Content 2

On April 22, 1999, the United States Postal Service had issued a stamp dedicated to the philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand, the author of Atlas Shrugged, philosophically the most challenging bestseller of its time. Miss Rand's unique philosophy, Objectivism, has gained a worldwide audience.

Nicholas Gaetano is the artist who designed this postage stamp and his art-deco designs have appeared on the covers of recent editions of Ayn Rand’s novels. His stamp artwork shows Rand alongside the Manhattan skyline, which she considered an alluring symbol of human achievement.

She was put on a postage stamp due to her love of collecting them.

I found this piece online at http://www.papertig.com/AR_Stamp_Poster.htm. I love the 1920’s – 30’s art-deco style of art, the hard lines, simple bold colors, great use of contrast, geometric shapes, use of outlines, and as for the content, the fascination with modernity and machinery. The connection between the content and form is that Ayn Rand was one of the greatest and most influential authors during the time that the art-deco style of art was popular. What makes the piece visually interesting are the bold lines on the left and the skyline of the buildings on the right meeting in the middle to where her face is the focal point of the piece. Her name is also in the art-deco style of typography, with bold simple lines, large bowls in the letters R and D and not using a horizontal line to connect the A. This stamp is the perfect example of what Ayn Rand and the art-deco style represented.