Peter Max, Influential Counterculture Artist, Dead at 88

Peter Max, the influential counterculture pop artist known for psychedelic graphic style, died on Sept. 14 at age 88, his family confirmed through a statement from his son. Born in Berlin in 1937, Max fled Nazi Germany as an infant and later moved through places including Shanghai, Tibet and Paris before settling in New York City at 16. In the early 1960s he opened a graphic design studio and gained major commercial attention, helping shape the era’s vivid, swirling aesthetic. By the end of the decade he returned his focus to fine art, collaborating with major musicians. He was approached by John Lennon in 1968 for Yellow Submarine but declined, recommending Heinz Edelmann instead.