Desert Vision
April 3, 2017
Going from one place to another during his childhood, Peter Max experienced making homes in Berlin, Shanghai, Haifa, Paris, and finally settling in Brooklyn in 1956, where he started his formal art training at the Art Students League of New York in Manhattan. In his career Max achieved many successes, such as starting The Daly & Max Studio in Manhattan, being featured on the Tonight Show in 1968, as well as being on the cover of Life magazine with the headline 'Portrait of the artist as a very rich man'. His popularity has allowed him to be the official artist for the World Cup, the Grammy Awards, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Super Bowl, and his work has been widely merchandised, appearing on mugs, clocks, clothes, and even cruise ships.
Desert Vision, a serigraph made in 1971, is a paired-down, peaceful, and warm landscape with a blue moon, depicted through psychedelic colors and thin black outlines. The print is a prime example of why Max's work has been described as "an indispensable guide for cultural literacy in the 1960's."
Text by Emily Lane Borden