Richard Baratz was born in Brooklyn, New York, around 1944. He attended the School of Visual Arts where he started doing caricatures. This work, which has appeared all over the United States in magazines, newspapers, etc., made him a household name in the US. So much so that he has been the sole cartoonist for Sardi's restaurant in New York for decades now, drawing the rich and famous that frequent the place.
But Baratz also works as a picture engraver for various companies such as the American Bank Note Company, the Bank Note Corporation of America and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Baratz' volume of stamp engravings is rather modest, but does include two lovely portraits which are part of the Great Americans definitive series of the 1980s and 1990s. His two contributions are the portraits of the philanthropist Milton Hershey on the 32c and the scientist and social reformer Alice Hamilton on the 55c. Hershey, by the way, was also a chocolatier, which makes the ink colour chosen for his stamp rather apt! Both stamps were issued in 1995.
Before Baratz was set to work on his stamps, he had already engraved a few illustrations on the so-called commemorative panels; the philatelic documents isssued by the USPS accompanying their stamp issues.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, Baratz favours his life as a cartoonist to that of his as an engraver. In an interview with the New York Times he once compared it to a classical pianist going out at night to play jazz!
You will find Richard Baratz' database HERE.
Baratz' volume of stamp engravings is rather modest, but does include two lovely portraits which are part of the Great Americans definitive series of the 1980s and 1990s. His two contributions are the portraits of the philanthropist Milton Hershey on the 32c and the scientist and social reformer Alice Hamilton on the 55c. Hershey, by the way, was also a chocolatier, which makes the ink colour chosen for his stamp rather apt! Both stamps were issued in 1995.
Before Baratz was set to work on his stamps, he had already engraved a few illustrations on the so-called commemorative panels; the philatelic documents isssued by the USPS accompanying their stamp issues.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, Baratz favours his life as a cartoonist to that of his as an engraver. In an interview with the New York Times he once compared it to a classical pianist going out at night to play jazz!
You will find Richard Baratz' database HERE.