Komar & Melamid

Peace I (4 diptychs), 1986

1986

Artist: Peter Max, German/American (1937 - ) Title: Bill Clinton Inaugural, An American Reunion, New Beginnings, Renewed Hope Hand signed in marker with dedication Year: 1993 Medium: Poster Size: 36 in. x 24 in Provenance: collection of Friede & Rubin L. Gorewitz Peter Max (born Peter Max Finkelstein, October 19, 1937) is a German-American artist known for using bright colors in his work. Works by Max are associated with the visual arts and culture of the 1960s, particularly psychedelic art and pop art. Max was born in Berlin, the son of German Jews, Salla and Jakob. They fled Berlin in 1938, settling in Shanghai, China, where they lived for the next ten years. In 1948, the family moved to Haifa, Israel, where they lived for several years. Peter attended school in Mount Carmel, but was often drawing instead of taking notes. His principal suggested to his parents that he be put in art lessons after school, and he began to study under Professor Hünik, a Viennese Expressionist. From Israel, the family continued moving westward and stopped in Paris for several months—an experience that Max said greatly influenced his appreciation for art. In their short time in Paris, Max's mother enrolled him in drawing classes at the Louvre, where he began to study Fauvism. After nine months in Paris, Max and his family made their final move, settling in Brooklyn, New York, USA. In 1956, Max began his formal art training at the Art Students League of New York in Manhattan, studying anatomy, figure drawing and composition under Frank J. Reilly who had studied at the League alongside Norman Rockwell. In 1962, Max started a small Manhattan arts studio known as "The Daly & Max Studio," with friend Tom Daly. Daly and Max were joined by friend and mentor Don Rubbo, and the three worked as a group on books and advertising for which they received industry recognition. Much of their work incorporated antique photographic images as elements of collage. Max's interest in astronomy contributed to his self-described "Cosmic '60s" period, which featured psychedelic, counter culture imagery. Max's art was popularized nationally through TV commercials such as his 1968 "un cola" ad for the soft drink 7 Up which helped drive sales of his art posters and other merchandise. In 1967, Max solidified his place as a counter cultural icon by designing the flyers for the second ever 'Be In', a political gathering of mainly hippies in New York's Central Park after the Easter parade on March 26, 1967. In 1970, many of Max's products and posters were featured in the exhibition "The World of Peter Max," which opened at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. The United States Postal Service commissioned Max to create the 10-cent postage stamp to commemorate the Expo '74 World's Fair in Spokane, Washington, and Max drew a colorful psychedelic scene with a "Cosmic Jumper" and a "Smiling Sage" against a backdrop of a cloud, sun rays and a ship at sea on the theme of "Preserve the Environment." According to The New York Times, "His DayGlo-inflected posters became wallpaper for the turn on, tune in, drop out generation." On July 4, 1976, Max began his Statue of Liberty series leading to his efforts with Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca to help in the restoration of the statue. Max has been the official artist for many major events, including the 1994 World Cup, the Grammy Awards, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Super Bowl and others. In 2000, Max designed the paint scheme Dale Earnhardt...

John Willenbecher On the Bowery, 1969 - 1971 silkscreen on Schoeller's Parole Paper, edition of 100 + 20 A.P. 25.5 x 25.5 inches, signed, numbered 2...

Bill Graham revisited his old Bronx neighborhood in August, 1986 and, appalled to see that the drug culture had effectively wiped out the local culture, f...

Roy Lichtenstein at CSU, rarely seen exhibition catalogue, 1982 Softback exhibition catalogue with 2 very cool vellum pages with the Benday dots 11 × 8 1/2...