From the Beginning, Image 1

Peter Max (Born Peter Max Finkelstein) is a German artist known for his unique brand of rainbow-hued prints and paintings, which he has created since the early 1960s. Employing painterly strokes, his illustrations incorporate a wide spectrum of colors and patterns as seen in his Umbrella Man series. “I'm just wowed by the universe. I'm just glad to do something I love to do. I love color, I love painting, I love shapes, I love composition, I love the people around me,” he once exclaimed. “I'm adoring it all.” Born Peter Max Finkelstein on October 19, 1937 in Berlin, Germany, his parents fled the Nazi regime in 1938, moving between China, Israel, and Paris before settling in Brooklyn, NY in 1953. He went on to study at the Art Students League of New York, later becoming involved with psychedelic movement in the 1960s, creating a number of posters for bands of the time. Though he is an outspoken political activist and environmentalist, Max has also produced designs for the ad campaigns of several high-profile brands, including 7-Up and Chrysler. The artist’s works are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. He currently lives and works in New York, NY.