{"id":48,"date":"2016-01-19T22:04:45","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T03:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/?page_id=48"},"modified":"2026-03-25T10:52:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:52:20","slug":"definition","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/exhibit\/definition\/","title":{"rendered":"definition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #191966\"><em><strong>The stamp is a symbol which takes possession of the imaginary.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/em><br>\n \u2014 Pierre Restany, \u201cThe Artist&#8217;s Stamp\u201d in Timbres d\u2019Artistes exhibition catalog, 1993. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Could you mail a letter with these stamps? Authorities issue stamps to show that a fee has been paid. Governments and companies use the shape and imagery of a postage stamp for commercial purposes, to raise revenue, and generate publicity. Artists have appropriated the form of the stamp to subvert their official roles and comment on their significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/definition-1\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2016\/01\/StampEx006md_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"definition-1\" class=\"wp-image-29\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/definition-2\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2016\/01\/olio00000003519md_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"definition-2\" class=\"wp-image-68\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/definition-3\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2016\/01\/olio00000003525_6md_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"definition-3\" class=\"wp-image-70\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/definition-4\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2016\/01\/olio00000003524_1md_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"definition-4\" class=\"wp-image-54\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/definition-5\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2016\/01\/WattsStamps_scans_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"definition-5\" class=\"wp-image-54\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/definition-6\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2016\/01\/olio00000003521md_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"definition-6\" class=\"wp-image-54\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/definition-7\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2016\/01\/olio00000003523md_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"definition-7\" class=\"wp-image-54\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/definition-8\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2016\/01\/StampEx009md_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"definition-8\" class=\"wp-image-54\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/definition-9\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2016\/01\/StampEx010md_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"definition-9\" class=\"wp-image-54\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The stamp is a symbol which takes possession of the imaginary.&nbsp; \u2014 Pierre Restany, \u201cThe Artist&#8217;s Stamp\u201d in Timbres d\u2019Artistes exhibition catalog, 1993. Could you mail a letter with these stamps? Authorities issue stamps to show that a fee has been paid. Governments and companies use the shape and imagery of a postage stamp for <a href=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/exhibit\/definition\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  definition<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":9,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-48","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1176,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48\/revisions\/1176"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/stamps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}