Space limits what can be displayed from the immense array of work Peter Max has created over the span of five plus decades. Here are some of the German native’s most memorable commissions in his own words.
Album Covers
“I’ve loved each commission project that I’ve done. I can’t really pick a favorite. They’ve all been wonderful to work on. My first commission was to do a painting of jazz pianist Meade Lux Lewis for a Riverside Record album cover in 1961, which won the Society of Illustrators’ Gold Medal.”
Stamps
“In 1974, I was asked to create the first 10-cent, U.S. postage stamp, ‘Preserve the Environment,’ and in 1992 a series of 12 stamps for the U.N. Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.”
Murals And More
“In super large-scale, I’ve been asked to create a 250-foot mural for the U.S. Pavilion at the World’s Fair in Seville, Spain, a Continental airlines 777 super jet, Dale Earnhardt’s NASCAR racer, a 600-foot Woodstock stage and the hull of a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship.”
Portraits
“In normal scale, on canvas, I have been honored to have painted portraits of seven U.S. presidents, CEOs Sumner Redstone, Richard Branson and Ted Turner; freedom fighters: Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev; and pop culture icons, including Sting, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Taylor Swift, Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra.”
Learn more about Peter Max from Long Island Weekly‘s Dave Gil de Rubio
Check out Peter Max’s Coney Island-themed cover art for Long Island Weekly‘s latest issue.
