Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages

Peter Max, born Peter Max Finkelstein in Berlin in 1937, is a legendary German-American pop artist whose multicultural childhood profoundly shaped his vibrant creative style. After fleeing Nazi Germany with his family in 1938, Max spent a decade in Shanghai, China, before traveling through Tibet, Israel, and Paris, exposing him to a diverse array of global artistic traditions. Upon immigrating to Brooklyn, New York, in 1953, he honed his technical skills in classical anatomy and traditional realism at the Art Students League of New York under Frank J. Riley. However, Max found himself drawn away from classical styles by an intense fascination with graphic design, commercial art, and the dawn of the space age. In 1962, he co-founded a graphic design studio that quickly found commercial success, laying the groundwork for his signature "Cosmic '60s" aesthetic. This highly recognizable psychedelic style, defined by bold outlines, deeply saturated color palettes, and whimsical celestial motifs like stars and planets, successfully bridged the gap between commercial graphic design and fine art. Mass-produced via new industrial offset lithography techniques, Max's iconic posters bypassed traditional galleries to decorate millions of homes, while attracting massive corporate licensing deals with entities like General Electric.

Beyond his mass-market poster success, Max's artistic output was deeply intertwined with his experience of synesthesia, a neurological condition that allowed him to conceptually translate musical harmonies into vivid visual hues. This unique sensory perspective fueled an extraordinary career highlighted by major institutional commissions and official artwork for global events, including the FIFA World Cup, the Grammy Awards, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Max also established strong political ties, painting official portraits for six different United States presidents, most notably a massive 100-portrait installation for Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration. His expansive canvases frequently pushed structural boundaries, exemplified by his 1999 commission to paint the entire fuselage of a commercial Boeing 777 aircraft to celebrate the millennium. Additionally, his vibrant series of Statue of Liberty paintings, which began on the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial, catalyzed a major civic movement when Max successfully lobbied Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca to help head a $350 million national restoration campaign for the monument. His capacity to distill the optimism of the era's peace movement into public consciousness is perfectly captured in his famous 1970 Love poster, which uses organic shapes, serene figurative profiles, and bright fluorescent gradients to establish a universally accessible visual language of joy and unity.

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My guest this week is author and historian Thomas Laqueur to discuss his new book, The Dog's Gaze: A Visual History. Laqueur explores the deep biological, evolutionary, and cultural connection between humans and dogs as told through centuries of masterpiece paintings. From the ancient petroglyphs of the Arabian desert to Velázquez's intricate court scenes, the gaze of a dog functions as an inviting device to connect the audience to the artwork.

Pick up a copy of The Dog's Gaze: A Visual History on Amazon or wherever you get your books.

Related Episodes

Diego Velazquez

Pablo Picasso

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The Parthenon, a crowning achievement of Classical Greek architecture, was constructed on the Athenian Acropolis between 447 BCE and 432 BCE during the golden age of Athens. Commissioned under the leadership of the prominent statesman Pericles, the monumental project brought together the master sculptor Phidias and the brilliant architects Iktinos and Kallikrates. Embodying the ideals of structural harmony and human naturalism, the temple features celebrated optical refinements known as entasis, which include subtly swelling columns that tilt inward and an upward-curving stone foundation. These meticulous geometric adjustments were engineered to counteract visual distortions, creating a perfect illusion of straight lines and symmetry for the human eye. Beyond its primary role as a religious temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, the Parthenon functioned as a highly secure civic vault, safeguarding the financial reserves of the Delian League.

Over its millennia-long history, the structure underwent dramatic transformations that mirrored the shifting political landscape of the Mediterranean. It was converted into a Byzantine Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the late sixth century CE, and later adapted into an Islamic mosque complete with a minaret following the Ottoman conquest in 1456. A catastrophic gunpowder explosion devastated the building in 1687 during the Morean War, when a Venetian mortar round struck the interior cella where Ottoman forces had stored ammunition. The surviving architectural treasures—including high-relief metopes, majestic pediment sculptures, and a 524-foot continuous low-relief frieze carved from Pentelic marble—depict vivid narratives of Greek mythology and civic processions. Today, these ancient artifacts remain central to global conversations regarding cultural property and museum ethics, particularly due to ongoing international repatriation campaigns for the Elgin Marbles displayed in the British Museum.

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The image used in the episode cover art came from Adobe's stock photos.

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Today, I am sharing an episode of my other podcast Fun Facts Daily focusing on the Marine Corps War Memorial and the iconic image of soldiers raising the flag.

The Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, honors all United States Marine Corps personnel who lost their lives in service to their country since 1775. Sculpted by Felix de Weldon, the massive bronze statue recreates the iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph captured by Joe Rosenthal during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The monument depicts a historic tableau of six service members raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, symbolizing a critical turning point in a grueling 36-day campaign. Resting upon a massive foundation of polished Swedish black granite, the structure features engraved names of pivotal military engagements and a lasting tribute to the uncommon valor displayed by those on the battlefield.

A fascinating historical paradox surrounds the physical design of the monument's figures. While the statue visually pays tribute to the battlefield actions of combatants later identified as Harold Schultz and Harold Keller, the actual bronze faces belong to Rene Gagnon and John Bradley, who originally modeled for the sculptor after the war. The complex production process required the monument to be cast in over 100 individual bronze pieces in Brooklyn, New York, before being transported to Virginia for its permanent installation. Today, the site serves as a powerful symbol of military sacrifice and American resilience, illuminated nightly beneath a 24-hour cloth American flag mandated by a historic presidential proclamation.

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Jasper Johns, born May 15, 1930, in Augusta, Georgia, significantly influenced mid-century American painting by reintroducing recognizable, everyday imagery into fine art. After pursuing an art degree at the University of South Carolina and studying at the Parsons School of Design, Johns served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Upon returning to New York City in 1953, he established a studio in lower Manhattan and became part of an avant-garde artistic community alongside figures like Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage. This group sought to challenge Abstract Expressionism, the dominant movement of the era, which favored raw emotion and non-representational forms. Seeking a distinct creative identity, Johns took the radical step in 1954 of destroying nearly all his previous derivative artworks that were still in his possession.

Johns developed a style later classified as Neo-Dada, paving the way for the pop art movement by focusing on commonplace subjects like targets, maps, letters, numbers, and flags. His breakthrough piece, Flag (1954–55), was inspired by a vivid dream and depicted the 48-star American flag utilizing encaustic—an ancient painting technique involving pigments mixed with heated beeswax. This fast-hardening medium allowed Johns to rapidly layer materials, including scraps of The New York Times, giving his work a highly textured, three-dimensional physical presence. Early in his career, to financially support himself, Johns also worked under the pseudonym Matson Jones alongside Rauschenberg, creating commercial window displays for luxury retailers like Tiffany & Co.. Decades later, his extensive contributions to American art history were recognized on February 15, 2011, when President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: [email protected]
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