 peter max (born peter max finkelstein, october 19, 1937) is a german-born american illustrator and graphic artist, known for the use of psychedelic shapes and color palettes as well as spectra in his work. at first, works in this style appeared on posters and were seen on the walls of college dorms across america. max then became fascinated with new printing techniques that allowed for four-color reproduction on product merchandise. following his success with a line of art clocks for general electric, max's art was licensed by 72 corporations. in september 1969, max appeared on the cover of life magazine, the tonight show starring johnny carson and the ed sullivan show. ==biography== ===childhood=== in 1938, peter max's parents fled berlin, germany, his place of birth, to escape the fomenting nazi movement, 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. from israel, the family continued moving westward and stopped in paris for several monthsâan experience that max said greatly influenced his appreciation for art. ===the 1950s=== peter and his parents first settled in bensonhurst, brooklyn in 1953 where he attended lafayette high school (new york city), where he was classmates with future actor paul sorvino. 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. ===the 1960s=== 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 what became ident
1937_births American_artists American_graphic_designers American_people_of_German-Jewish_descent American_printmakers Art_Students_League_of_New_York_alumni German_Jews_who_emigrated_to_the_United_States_to_escape_Nazism German_expatriates_in_China Jewish_artists Living_people People_from_Berlin Pop_artists Pratt_Institute_alumni Psychedelic_artists