Vintage American Modernist Pop Art Psychedelic Surfer Acrylic Original Painting
View Similar Items
Peter MaxVintage American Modernist Pop Art Psychedelic Surfer Acrylic Original Painting2005
2005
About the Item
Peter Max
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.
- Grey Flowers GreenBy Wes OlmstedLocated in Buffalo, NYAn original Oil painting by Westley "Wes" Olmsted. This work is currently featured in the exhibition Man of Extremes at Benjaman Gallery in Buffalo, NY. Westley G. Olmsted (1934-2...Category
1960s Pop Art Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil, Wood
- Antique Exhibited American Impressionist 1921 Flower Still Life Oil PaintingLocated in Buffalo, NYAntique American impressionist still life oil painting by Kathryn Logan Luke. Oil on canvas, circa 1921. Housed in a period giltwood frame. Image size, 24L x 26H.Category
1920s Impressionist Still-life Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Soft Impressionist Listed Female Midwest Iowa Art Exhibited Still Life PaintingLocated in Buffalo, NYAntique American impressionist signed still life oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Image size, 25L x 19H.Category
1930s Impressionist Still-life Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
$2,300 Sale Price20% Off - Antique American School Signed Framed Fauvist Still Life Modern Oil PaintingLocated in Buffalo, NYAntique American modernist signed still life oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Image size, 21L x 18H.Category
1940s Modern Still-life Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
$1,036 Sale Price20% Off - Vintage American School Modernist Guitar Cubist Abstract Musical Still LifeLocated in Buffalo, NYVintage signed American school guitar still life oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed illegibly. Framed. Image size, 22L x 18H.Category
1950s Cubist Still-life Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
$1,196 Sale Price20% Off - Antique American School Signed Cubist Modern Flower Still Life Oil PaintingLocated in Buffalo, NYAntique American signed modernist flower still life oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Image size, 16L x 30H.Category
1950s Modern Still-life Paintings
MaterialsOil, Canvas
$1,196 Sale Price20% Off
- Flowers 1978, Op Art Floral Oil Tempera on Board Roses Pop Art Large PaintingBy Lowell NesbittLocated in Surfside, FLLowell Nesbitt (American, 1933-1993) Flower, 1978 tempera on board 60 1/2 x 40 1/2 inches. Provenance: Sold: Christie's East, May 18, 1999, Lot 224 Blair Nesbitt is an American painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor. Although he worked in a variety of media and covered a wide range of subjects throughout his career, he is best known for his large, Photorealist botanical paintings. Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1933, Nesbitt earned a degree from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Later, he also studied at London’s Royal Academy of Arts. Working in stained glass and etching and also producing abstract paintings in his early career, a 1962 encounter with artist Robert Indiana led him to steer his aesthetic toward realism. Though he held his first solo show at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1958, it was his 1964 debut at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. that would truly bring him to the attention of the art world. In this exhibit, his botanical series of paintings, drawings, and prints captivated the art world and public alike. The game-changing Corcoran Gallery show would send his career down the trajectory of sustained success. In 1976, Nesbitt moved from his New York City West 14th Street studio to a massive space located at 389 West 12th Street. The 12,500 square foot living and workspace supplied ample room for creating his enormous paintings...Category
1970s Pop Art Still-life Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- "Dripping Dots - Coco in Portofino" Pop Art Chanel Perfume Bottle Oil PaintingBy Cindy ShaoulLocated in New York, NYThis piece is part of an exciting new collection depicting iconic "Coco Chanel" with the artists "Dripping Dots" style. Focused on a pointillistic technique, the paint is able to cap...Category
2010s Pop Art Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Mixed Media, Oil
- "Dripping Dots - Coco in Ibiza" Pop Art Chanel Perfume Bottle Oil PaintingBy Cindy ShaoulLocated in New York, NYThis piece is part of an exciting new collection depicting iconic "Coco Chanel" with the artists "Dripping Dots" style. Focused on a pointillistic technique, the paint is able to cap...Category
2010s Pop Art Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Mixed Media, Oil
$1,600 Sale Price20% Off - "Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog" Elvis Presley Abstract Inspired by Robert LongoBy Cindy ShaoulLocated in New York, NYThis painting depicts an impressionistic and abstract portrait of Elvis Presley. The thick brush strokes and fun marks creates an abstract atmosphere, and the black and white moveme...Category
2010s Pop Art Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Mixed Media, Oil
- "Round About", Randall Browning, Pop Art Still-life, 30x40 in., Original OilBy Randall BrowningLocated in Dallas, TXRandy Browning’s paintings sparkle with the breath of life. His delightful contemporary paintings offer his viewers a unique way of regarding contemporary still life, combined with old-world attention to detail. Browning feels that to truly observe an object, one must be absorbed by it. The large scale of the paintings helps people focus on the incredible variety and subtlety of apparently common objects. In this black and white painting, you are looking down from a birds-eye view of a retro teapot...Category
Early 2000s Pop Art Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- "Long and Blue", Randall Browning, Pop Art Still-life, 30x40 in., Original OilBy Randall BrowningLocated in Dallas, TXRandy Browning’s paintings sparkle with the breath of life. His delightful contemporary paintings offer his viewers a unique way of regarding contemporary still life, combined with old-world attention to detail. Browning feels that to truly observe an object, one must be absorbed by it. The large scale of the paintings helps people focus on the incredible variety and subtlety of apparently common objects. In this painting, a retro blue teapot sits behind a red coffee mug that gives high contrast. The pair sits on a yellow and white striped background creating pop art and giving a unique modern twist. Randy Browning’s paintings sparkle with the breath of life. His delightful fruit and vegetable paintings...Category
Early 2000s Pop Art Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil