Wishing renowned pop artist Peter Max a happy 85th birthday!
Born October 19, 1937, Max has become synonymous with colorful visions of the cosmos, American icons and idyllic worlds that inspire spirituality and capture the imagination.
In America, he studied extensively at the Art Students League for five years, and in 1961, began a graphic design studio with his friends, finding overnight success with his bright posters.
During his long career, the artist has painted for six U.S. presidents, was the official artist for the U.S. team for the 2006 Winter Olympics, and has created art for Woodstock, World Cups and Super Bowls. His psychedelic renderings could be found on the cover of Time, the White House lawn and even a postage stamp. Most recently, the Tampa Museum of Art featured him in a special exhibition.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Mr. Max was a countercultural icon, a rare painter to achieve name recognition in the mainstream.
The animation design of “Yellow Submarine” has sometimes been incorrectly attributed to famous psychedelic pop art artist of the era Peter Max, but the film’s art director was Heinz Edelmann. Edelmann, along with his contemporary Milton Glaser, pioneered the psychedelic style for which Max would later become famous, but according to Edelmann and producer Al Brodax, as quoted in the book Inside the Yellow Submarine by Hieronimus and Cortner, Max had nothing to do with the production of “Yellow Submarine”.
Peter Max personally invited me to two of his exhibitions. I have one of his works autographed. I was trying to create an initiative with both Peter Max, Hartmut Esslinger (Founder of FrogDesign) and me. The two mammoth egos couldn’t work together.
