Peter Max

Max has achieved his place in history having painted for various Heads of State, including six U.S. Presidents. From art that appeared on the first U.S. 10-cent stamp bearing the title “Preserve the Environment,” to 235 U.S. Border murals greeting millions of people entering America each year, Peter Max seeks to capture themes of America at its finest in his art.

Max has a long-standing career as the preeminent Pop artist in America. His art appears on a Boeing 777 jumbo jet currently flying the skies for Continental; a 600-foot stage for the Woodstock Music Festival; the covers of Verizon's New York City yellow and white pages; and a giant mural unveiled at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Max has also been designated Official Artist of five Super Bowls, six Grammy Awards, World Cup USA, The World Series, the United Nations Earth Summit, and numerous other events. Max was honored at the Jefferson Awards with an award for his lifetime dedication to America, and its charitable causes. While in Washington DC, Max also presented the award he designed for the 30th Jefferson Awards ceremony to our First Lady Laura Bush.

Max's concerns for peace, the environment, human rights and animal rights, are as strong today as they have been throughout the years, often becoming the themes for his paintings. Max rescued a cow that jumped over a 6-foot fence to escape slaughter in Cincinnati. He has adopted the cow that he calls Cindy Woo, and has arranged for her to live happily ever after at the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY.

Deeply affected by the events and aftermath of September 11th, Max like many of us wanted to respond. The artist created posters to benefit the September 11th Fund and The Survivors Fund. The Patriotic Posters with proceeds benefiting the September 11th Fund and the Survivors Fund are available on Max's website, www.petermax.com.

Max was asked to create the American Heroes project, a creation of 356 portraits of the fire fighters lost on 9-11 and in that year. "What began as my artistic response to the tragedy and the need to create one portrait for each fire fighter's family, became something we can now all share," Max says. "When I am painting these men, looking into their eyes each night, I feel like I know them and a tremendous sadness arises when I realize that we will never see them again."

Max's remarkable legacy is the subject of a spectacular book, THE ART OF PETER MAX (Abrams, October 2002), the first book to take an in-depth look at his influence on culture in America and around the world.