In 1971, the Italian company Olivetti sponsored a series of six anti-pollution posters by internationally renowned artists gathered by Jean Herzberg Lipman, the editor of Art in America. This famous group included Georgia O’Keefe, Alexander Calder, Edward Steichen, Buckminster Fuller, and Roy Lichtenstein—as well as the American pop artist, Ernest Trova. The campaign was promoted by UNESCO and used to finance projects led by the United Nations in the developing world. The posters were also given to UN ambassadors to help raise ecological awareness. Each composition combined the phrase “Save Our Planet” with a secondary message highlighting a specific area of concern—in this case, humankind itself. Trova was most famous for his “Falling Man” sculptures and paintings, symbolizing imperfect humanity hurtling into the future.
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