McRay Magleby (b.1941), 'Peace Wave,' 1985, 1985, silk screen print, 33 5/8 x 19 1/2 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, 2012.
Based on the style of traditional Japanese woodblock prints, this poster image was created as part of an exhibition titled Images of Survival, organized by the Shoshin Society in Washington, DC. It commemorates the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Mac said that “he wanted to make people feel good, to feel that peace is something worthwhile, something to strive for.”
In 1986, this poster was voted “the most memorable poster in the world” by an international jury of design professionals. Peace Wave continues to be Mac’s most widely recognizable image and is published regularly in Communication Arts magazine’s timeline of significant works. You can see this poster in the exhibition Wit & Vision: The Creative Collaboration of McRay Magleby and Norman Darais, which just opened at the MOA last week.