2015
Born Peter Max Finkelstein in Berlin in 1937, psychedelic Pop art icon Peter Max spent the first part of his childhood in Shanghai after his parents emigrated from Germany to flee the Nazis. While there, Max developed his deep interest in American pop culture — namely comic books, jazz and cinema. Max’s paintings, graphic design, prints and illustrations, which were inspired by these interests, were also informed by his experience with synesthesia, a sensory condition that causes him to see music and hear color.
After relocating to Haifa, Israel, then Paris, where he spent a significant amount of time in sketching classes at the Louvre, a teenage Max and his family finally moved to the United States, settling in Brooklyn. Max enrolled in the Art Students League of New York in 1956, training under Frank J. Reilly, and then the School of Visual Arts. Throughout art school, Max focused on photorealism, but he found the style too restrictive. When he graduated and opened his graphic design studio with friends in 1962, he began experimenting with abstraction and color — just in time for the psychedelic era.
The technicolor works for which Max would become known are characterized by big and bold graphic qualities — not dissimilar to what you’d find in his beloved comic books. Some deeper themes emerged across his work too: Max spent a good portion of the 1960s and 1970s creating his signature cosmic style, inspired by his fascination with astronomy and Eastern philosophies.
For Max and his partners, the graphic design business was highly successful, with commissions rolling in from advertising agencies, magazines and even Hollywood in the form of movie posters. The artist was featured on the cover of Life in 1969, and by the 1970s, he was practically a household name.
Max's body of work extended into product design, including a line of clocks for General Electric, while his domination of the commercial art scene continued for decades. He was commissioned to paint a postage stamp honoring the World’s Fair of 1974 (Expo ‘74); a Statue of Liberty series in which some proceeds went on to fund the statue’s restoration; posters and other advertising materials for major events like the Super Bowl, the U.S. Open and the Grammys; a Dale Earnhardt race car; and even the hull of the Norwegian Breakaway cruise ship.
Commercial activities aside, Max has long been the subject of many museum exhibitions, from his first solo show in 1970, “The World of Peter Max,” at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco to 2016's “Peter Max: 50 Years of Cosmic Dreaming” at the Tampa Museum of Art in Florida. Today, his work belongs to the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and other institutions.
Find original Peter Max lithographs, paintings, signed art and other works for sale on 1stDibs.
Sailboat IV, Peter Max
By Peter Max
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Sailboat IV Year: 2000 Edition: 500/500, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Lustro Saxony paper Size: 2.75 x 3.125 inches Condition: Excellent Inscript...
Lithograph
Sunset Sail, Peter Max
By Peter Max
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Sunset Sail Year: 1998 Edition: 233/300, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Coventry Smooth paper Size: 4.75 x 5.75 inches Condition: Excellent Inscrip...
Lithograph
Quiet Lake, Peter Max
By Peter Max
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Quiet Lake Year: 2000 Edition: 306/500, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Lustro Saxony paper Size: 7.375 x 8.5 inches Condition: Excellent Inscriptio...
Lithograph
Sailboat Series II, Peter Max
By Peter Max
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Sailboat Series II Year: 1998 Edition: 201/300, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Coventry Smooth paper Size: 4.75 x 5.75 inches Condition: Excellent ...
Lithograph
Sailboat Series I, Peter Max
By Peter Max
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Sailboat Series I Year: 1998 Edition: 300/300, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Coventry Smooth paper Size: 7 x 8 inches Condition: Excellent Inscrip...
Lithograph
Sailboat with Pyramid, Peter Max
By Peter Max
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Sailboat with Pyramid Year: 1998 Edition: 300/300, plus proofs Medium: Lithograph on Coventry Smooth paper Size: 7 x 8 inches Condition: Excellent Ins...
Lithograph
Mermaid with Sailboat, c. 1989
By Peter Max
Located in Philadelphia, PA
(Unique) 1/1 edition Max, Peter Mermaid with Sailboat, c. 1989 Mixed media with watercolor and serigraphy on paper 15 x 11 in.
Watercolor, Screen
Land of Sunshine, c. 1989
By Peter Max
Located in Philadelphia, PA
(Unique) 1/1 edition Max, Peter Land of Sunshine, c. 1989 Mixed media with watercolor and serigraphy on paper 13 3/4 x 12 in.
Watercolor, Screen
Better World Version I
By Peter Max
Located in Missouri, MO
Better World Version I Peter Max (German, b. 1937) Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 9.75 inches 36 x 21.5 inches with frame Signed lower right Known throughout the world and a household name in America, Max is known for his new age style cosmic imagery and multi-colored blends. During the late 60's and early 70's his colorful art reached millions of people and he won numerous major awards for his work. His paintings, drawings and limited edition graphics have been exhibited in major museums throughout the world. He works in multiple media, including oil, acrylics, water colors, fingerpaints, dyes, pastels, charcoal, pen, multi-colored pencils, etchings, engravings, animation cels, lithographs, serigraphs, ceramics, sculpture, collage, video, xerox, fax, and computer graphics. He also includes mass media as a "canvas" for his creative expression. Peter Max was born in Berlin, Germany, and spent his childhood in Shanghai. From China, the family went to Tibet for a year, and then on to Israel. His family's odyssey continued to Paris, and finally, at the age of 16, Max arrived in the United States. He began his art studies in New York at the Art Student's League and continued at the Pratt Institute and School of Visual Arts. Max often uses American symbols in his artwork and has done paintings and projects for presidents Ford...
Canvas, Acrylic
Quiet Lake III, Framed Psychedelic Lithograph by Peter Max
By Peter Max
Located in Long Island City, NY
Peter Max is a psychedelic pop artist who used bright colors and child-like shapes to create whimsical and otherworldly images. This lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil, depicts a windy seaside with a large sunset...
Lithograph
Woodstock Series, Profile on B
By Peter Max
Located in Missouri, MO
Peter Max (German, b. 1937) Woodstock Series, Profile on B Signed Lower Right 9 x 7 inches 25.5 x 23.5 inches with frame Peter Max, born Peter Max Finkelstein, is a multi-dimension...
Acrylic, Lithograph
New Moon Detail
By Peter Max
Located in Missouri, MO
New Moon Detail Peter Max (German, b. 1937) Acrylic on Canvas 15 x 30 inches 26 x 41 inches with frame Signed lower right "Inspired by the monks and sages the artist saw as a child growing up in Shanghai, China, Peter Max's 'New Moon' is representative of his sensual and energetic Neo-Expressionistic brushwork style, and of his bold, Neo-Fauvist color palette which began to emerge in the 1970s. In the painting, a zen monk, holding his umbrella, contemplates the meaning of a new moon rising - new beginnings and goals, a time when new intentions are made. He seems to float somewhere between the horizon and the clouds and heavens, close to the new moon, and painted in the most daring and vibrant of the artist's color palettes." ©ALP, Inc. Known throughout the world and a household name in America, Max is known for his new age style cosmic imagery and multi-colored blends. During the late 60's and early 70's his colorful art reached millions of people and he won numerous major awards for his work. His paintings, drawings and limited edition graphics have been exhibited in major museums throughout the world. He works in multiple media, including oil, acrylics, water colors, fingerpaints, dyes, pastels, charcoal, pen, multi-colored pencils, etchings, engravings, animation cels, lithographs, serigraphs, ceramics, sculpture, collage, video, xerox, fax, and computer graphics. He also includes mass media as a "canvas" for his creative expression. Peter Max was born in Berlin, Germany, and spent his childhood in Shanghai. From China, the family went to Tibet for a year, and then on to Israel. His family's odyssey continued to Paris, and finally, at the age of 16, Max arrived in the United States. He began his art studies in New York at the Art Student's League and continued at the Pratt Institute and School of Visual Arts. Max often uses American symbols in his artwork and has done paintings and projects for presidents Ford...
Canvas, Acrylic
