Bazaar: Fight Air Pollution

Artist

George Stowe Jr. (American, active 1970s)

Date

1970

Medium

Offset lithograph

Dimensions

Plate : 28 5/8 x 21 in. (72.71 x 53.34 cm)
Sheet : 30 1/2 x 22 1/2 in. (77.47 x 57.15 cm)
Mat : 36 x 30 in. (91.44 x 76.2 cm)

Credit Line

Hope College Collection

Object Number

2020.73

Label

Air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels became a serious problem in Europe and America during the middle decades of the 20^th century. In October 1948, an unusual weather pattern concentrated the air pollution from several factories in Donora, Pennsylvania, killing 20 people and sickening more than 7000. Four years later in December 1952, the city of London, England was engulfed by a thick coal smog that killed at least 8000 people over a five-day period. The United States government responded to the growing pollution crisis by passing the Air Pollution Control Act of 1955, the Clean Air Act of 1963 and the Air Quality Act of 1967, all of which provided federal funding to study the problem of air pollution and recommend solutions for reducing it. Those efforts culminated in 1970 with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970, which authorized federal and state regulations designed to limit air pollution and mitigate its effects on both human and natural environments. This 1970 print by artist George Stowe, Jr. coincided with the passage of that momentous legislation. It parodies a fashion magazine cover set five years in the future when, the artist imagines, gas masks will have become the newest fashion accessories.