Peter Max

The Peter Max story begins in Germany where he was born in 1937. His family fled the Nazi’s in 1938 and moved to Shanghai. Max was artistic from the time he was born, enamored by color and drawing on every available surface. A splash of color on a steamer trunk was his first memorable experience.

Early in life, Max fell in love with comic books, movies and jazz – all uniquely American. In China, his lessons were taught in English, so he was able to understand these influences. Comic books heavily impacted his early style. His family traveled to Tibet, India, Africa, Italy and Israel, exposing young Peter to more cultures and languages than most people experience in a lifetime.

One summer Max began reading an encyclopedia but got no further than the word “astronomy”. He became enamored with the subject and began auditing classes at a scientific university in Haifa. This deep interest in the cosmos would be evident in much of his early commercial work.

In 1953 the family spent 9 months in Paris before moving to America. Peter spent his time in Paris studying at the Louvre where he was mentored by Adolph-William Bouguereau. Later, the family settled in Brooklyn. In 1961, fresh out of school, Peter started a graphic design studio, finding almost overnight success. Throughout the sixties he developed his signature “psychedelic” style. The look he achieved was sought after by companies across the country. Magazines and national publications placed Max at the center of the youth movement. The story behind his poster for the Central Park “Be In” on Easter of 1967 was even adapted for the Academy Award winning film “Hair”. Max was at the center of the cultural revolution and featured on The Today Show and the cover of Life magazine.

Throughout the 70’s, even when retreating somewhat from the spotlight, Max stayed busy, including an exhibition in San Francisco called “The World of Peter Max”. He was also commissioned by the US Post Office to design the first ever environmental 10-cent stamp commemorating the 1974 World’s Fair in Spokane. He worked with Lee Iacocca of Chrysler to save the Statue of Liberty, creating a series of paintings that generated the funding to restore the desperately worn landmark. When he returned to the public scene in the 80’s, Peter’s style had transformed to a much more dramatic pallet. He reopened his studio creating a 40,000 square foot space for painting, production and gallery tours, just across from Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

Peter Max has stayed in the public eye, using his art to express his creativity while raising awareness to environmental and humanitarian issues. He has done projects for Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. In 1994 he created a “Peace Accord” painting for the White House to commemorate the historic signing. Max created four Grammy Award posters, redesigned NBC’s symbolic peacock, was the official artist for five Super Bowls, the World Cup USA, Woodstock, the US Tennis Open and the NHL All-Star game. He has created works to support the September 11th, Twin Towers, and Survivor Relief Funds. He created 356 portrait paintings of the firefighters who perished in the September 11th terrorist attacks and presented them to the surviving family members at a ceremony at Madison Square Garden. Today, Max has evolved from a pop artist of the 1960’s to a master of neo-expressionism. His vibrant and colorful work has become a lasting part of contemporary American culture.