The Stamp Act

Fifty-two years ago, Expo ’74 opened in Spokane, Washington. If Chicago at the Century of Progress Expo in 1933 was all about technological and scientific advancement and how exalting them would lift us up, then Spokane 41 years at Expo ’74 later was about the environment and how abusing it would drag us down. 

The US Postal Service commissioned the psychedelic artist Peter Max to create a 10-cent stamp he named “Preserve the Environment.” Max had previously designed the famous “Be‑In” poster for the 1967 Central Park rally, designed a line of clocks for General Electric, conceived the cover of the New York City Yellow Pages, and inspired the look of the Beatles’ movie “Yellow Submarine." For the Expo stamp, he drew a figure called "Cosmic Jumper" that glided through a lollipop-colored landscape of whimsical animals, sea, clouds and a ship.