Embracing space and astronomy as his two sources of inspiration, pop artist Peter Max brings cosmic and psychedelic elements into his art. Born in Berlin, Max spent his childhood in Shanghai and Israel before settling in New York, where he studied realism at the Art Students League and later attended the School of Visual Arts, developing an interest in the avant-garde. His paintings and graphics captured the spirit of the 1960s and were described by critics as “the visual arts counterpart to the music of the Beatles.” By the 1970s, Max was working in acrylic with large brushes, producing spontaneous, expressionistic brushstrokes. On July 4, 1976, he created a special installation and the art book Peter Max Paints America to commemorate the United States Bicentennial. That same year, Max began an ongoing series depicting the Statue of Liberty, which he continues to this day: “I wanted to honor this amazing democracy that the Statue of Liberty symbolizes.” In 1981, he painted six eight-foot-tall Liberties on the White House lawn and personally contributed to the statue’s restoration campaign.
Image Courtesy of Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images
Website
https://petermax.com
