Thomas Blackshear

Thomas Richman Blackshear II (born November 14, 1955) is an African-American artist whose paintings adorn many Evangelical and other churches. He is also a sculptor and a designer of stamps and ornaments, often with African American themes.

Early life
Blackshear was born in Waco, Texas. He grew up in Atlanta, Georgia.

Blackshear attended the Art Institute of Chicago and then American Academy of Art in Chicago.

Blackshear worked for Hallmark Cards for one year after his 1977 graduation from the American Academy of Art.

Career
Blackshear designed illustrations for numerous postage stamps issued by the United States Postal Service (USPS).


 * Black Heritage series, initiated in 1978:

 Jean Baptiste Point du Sable – 22¢ – issued February 20, 1987 (Scott 2249)  James W. Johnson – 22¢ – issued February 2, 1988 (Scott 2371)  Asa Philip Randolph – 25¢ – issued February 3, 1989 (Scott 2402)  Ida B. Wells – 25¢ – issued February 1, 1990 (Scott 2442)  Dorothy Height – 49¢ (Forever stamp) – issued February 2, 2017—in conjunction with Lateef Mangum (Scott 474304) 
 * Single:

 Joe Louis – 29¢ – issued June 22, 1993

 Eubie Blake  Jelly Roll Morton  James P. Johnson  Erroll Garner  Thelonious Monk  Coleman Hawkins  Charlie Parker  John Coltrane <li> Louis Armstrong <li> Charles Mingus</ol>



<li> The Wizard of Oz <li> Gone with the Wind <li> Stagecoach <li> Beau Geste</ol>

<li> Bela Lugosi as Dracula <li> Lon Chaney as The Phantom of the Opera <li> Lon Chaney, Jr., as The Wolf Man <li> Boris Karloff as The Mummy <li> Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster</ol>
 * Stars of stage and screen

<li> James Cagney – single – 33¢ – issued July 22, 1999 (designed by Howard Paine, illustrated by Blackshear)</ol>
 * Literary Arts:

<li> James Baldwin – single – 37¢ – issued June 24, 2004</ol>
 * Nobel Peace Prize / humanitarian

<li> Mother Teresa – issued September 5, 2010</ol>

Blackshear also created video game box art, including for Karateka (1984).

A touring exhibit of his Black Heritage works premiered in 1992 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. Blackshear also illustrated the USPS book I Have A Dream: A Collection of Black Americans on U.S. Postage Stamps (1991). Multiple pieces of Blackshear's artwork serve as the cover art for American rock band The Killers's sixth studio album Imploding the Mirage (2020) and its singles. Blackshear's original oil paintings in the Western Nouveau genre similar to “Dance of the Wind and Storm” and the other pieces used for The Killers's album can be found at the Broadmoor Galleries in Colorado Springs.

Awards and honors

 * 2020 Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame