From the Publisher

By Elizabeth P. Valk

THREE WEEKS AGO, OUR ART DEPARTMENT COVER COORdinator, Linda Freeman, received a phone call from Maurice Skinazi, an international businessman and art collector. Mr. Skinazi suggested that if by any chance TIME was going to do a story on the Rio summit, we should consider using something painted by his friend, Brazilian painter Lia Mittarakis.

Mr. Skinazi, who might consider a second career as an editor, had guessed our plans exactly right. Yes indeed, we were readying a special report on the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio, and yes, we were in need of a cover illustration. Freeman asked Skinazi to send a transparency of the painting. Even though TIME rarely uses unsolicited artwork for the cover, the simple beauty of this painting delighted everyone, and art director Rudolph Hoglund decided to use it. "Before I told Lia about the situation, I asked her to name the most famous magazine in the world, and of course she said TIME," recalls Skinazi. "She was simply elated that you would consider her painting for the cover."

Mittarakis' style is commonly known as "naive art," a term that describes contemporary works that are painted in a folk manner. Mittarakis, the daughter of Greek immigrants, lost both her parents by the time she was 10 years old. She took up painting during her teenage years while living in an orphanage. For years the artist supported herself and two daughters by selling tropical , scenes at Rio street fairs. Her vibrant works -- which have been called "painted poetry" -- eventually attracted the attention of European critics.

Although a detached retina has robbed Mittarakis of sight in her right eye and she has lost 60% of the vision in her left eye, she continues to produce canvases at home on Paqueta Island off the coast of Rio. The work reproduced on this week's cover is an acrylic portrayal of the Tijuca forest overlooking Rio.

Our special report on the summit is part of TIME's commitment to cover environmental issues, which began when we named Endangered Earth as the Planet of the Year for 1988. Says senior editor Charles Alexander, who edited the stories: "The summit itself can't save the earth, but it can put the nations of the world on the right path." Mittarakis shares that optimism and hopes that "by portraying the beauties of nature, we can remind the world about what is at stake." That is exactly our intent.