PETER MAX

Peter Max is a German-American artist well known for his ultra colorful psychedelic and pop art styles from the 1960s through the present.

Max was born Peter Max Finkelstein in Berlin, Germany on October 19, 1937 to German Jews. Soon after his birth they were forced to flee Nazi Germany and decided to settle in Shanghai, China where they would reside for the next ten years. In 1948, they moved to the new nation of Israel, living there for a few years before moving to Paris and then on to Brooklyn, New York in 1953.

In 1956, Max began taking classes at the Art Students League of New York where he studied anatomy, figure drawing and composition.

In 1962, Max, his friend Tom Daly, and mentor Don Rubbo started up a small arts studio business and called it "The Daly & Max Studio." They worked on books and advertising which incorporated a collage of antique photographic images and garnered them industry acclaim.

During this time, Max’s style evolved into his well known psychedelic counterculture imagery and reached a mass market audience that cemented his artistic fame through an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson as well as being featured on the cover of Life Magazine. All this publicity drove sales of his art posters and other related products which led to his artwork being featured in a solo 1970 show "The World of Peter Max," at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Other notable projects that drove his pop culture fame to greater heights were: a US Postal Service commission to design a stamp for the Expo ‘74 World’s Fair, a series of Statue of Liberty restoration promotions, “Peter Max Paints America” book commemorating the 1976 200th Anniversary Bicentennial of the United States, creating a design for the hull of a New York City themed Norwegian Cruise Lines ship, and designing the livery of a Continental Airlines aircraft. He was also the official artist for the following sports events: the 1994 World Cup, the Grammy Awards, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Super Bowl, designing Dale Earnhardt’s official NASCAR car, and the 2000 Baseball World Series.

He has also painted well known politicians and celebrities such as Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Taylor Swift.

Throughout his long and prolific career, Max has worked across multiple art mediums such as: painting, drawing, etching, collage, printmaking, sculpture, video, and digital.