Peter Max

For the last of my blogs on look-a-like illustrators of the late 1960's/70's I'm showing some work by Peter Max. Max (born Peter Max Finkelstein in 1937) is a German-born American artist best known for his iconic art style in the 1960s. Max is a multi-dimensional creative artist. He has worked with oils, acrylics, water colors, finger paints, dyes, pastels, charcoal, pen, multi-coloured pencils, etchings, engravings, animation cells, lithographs, serigraphs, silk screens, ceramics, sculpture, collage, video and computer graphics.

Peter Max was born in Berlin in 1937 but his family moved to China when he was still very young. In fact the young Max would move frequently with his family, learning about a variety of cultures throughout the world while travelling from Tibet to Africa to Israel to Europe until his family moved to the U.S.

In America Max was trained at the Art Students League, Pratt Institute, and the School of Visual Arts, all in New York. After closing his design studio in 1964, Peter began creating his characteristic paintings and graphic prints.

Max is noted for his undulating graphic designs in bright, vibrating colors. His style has greatly influenced commercial art. It is reminiscent of art nouveau and comic strip art, incorporating psychedelic colours in floral and celestial motifs.