HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (Nov. 10, 2020) – The cosmic-colored psychedelic works of one of America’s most iconic artists will usher in the holiday season at the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center (MACC) in Hendersonville, Tenn. The exhibit, titled Peter Max: A Cosmic Christmas, will run Nov. 21, 2020 to Jan. 17, 2021 and will feature 40 of the legendary American pop-artist Peter Max’s most distinctive paintings on canvas. On loan from the Park West Museum in Southfield, Mich., this magical collection is guaranteed to light up the holidays.
“Peter Max has an instantaneously recognizable style that has appealed to millions of art lovers for more than 50 years,” says Cheryl Strichik, executive director of the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center. “His psychedelic themes and colors captured the essence of the 1960s counterculture. But it’s the inherent joyfulness and playfulness of his work that has made him a beloved artist for all seasons. We are thrilled to showcase this large collection.”
Born Peter Max Finkelstein in Berlin, Germany in 1937, the future artist and his family were part of a large migration of German Jews who fled to the city of Shanghai, China in the late 1930s to avoid Nazi persecution. In China, Max became enamored with the colorful pageantry of Chinese religious celebrations and also developed an early affinity for Chinese calligraphy. Max moved with his family in 1948 to Israel, where his studies with a Viennese expatriate introduced him to the wild brush work and strident colors of such Fauvist painters as Henri Matisse. After finally settling in New York in 1953, Max immersed himself in American symbols, comic books, and pop culture. The seeds of his soon-to-be idiosyncratic style had all been planted.
Max hit his stride in the 1960s, opening a design studio with friend Tom Daly that soon became a veritable assembly line for psychedelically colored album covers, book jackets, and posters. The colors and themes that came to define Max’s work will be on prominent display at the MACC.
The exhibit will include one of Max’s most iconic images, a rendition of his Different Drummer for mixed media on canvas. Various iterations of his famed Statue of Liberty paintings will also be on display, along with wildly colorful landscapes, still lifes, and cartoon-like images. But what gives this exhibition its special holiday flair are Max’s distinctive paintings with seraphic themes. “The moment I saw these beautiful angels, I thought of the holidays,” Strichik says.
Albert Scaglione, founder of the Park West Museum, has been a close friend and associate of Max’s for decades, and over the years he has helped stage some of the artist’s most important exhibitions. A sampling from one of these exhibits, staged at the Tampa Museum of Art in 2016, will be making its way to Monthaven for Peter Max: A Cosmic Christmas, sponsored by the Park West Foundation.
The Park West Museum is a non-profit museum located in Park West Gallery’s Southfield, Michigan headquarters. The museum reopened following an extensive remodeling that added two new galleries to the facility. Admission to the museum is free to the public, ensuring that anyone who desires to learn more about art can enjoy the collection.
Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center is conveniently located off Gallatin Pike just three miles east of Rivergate Mall. The place serves as a haven for the arts, hosting major art exhibitions throughout the year. It also offers classes and summer camps on art and film for children and adults. Monthaven Mansion is available to rent for weddings, receptions, showers, corporate team-building classes, and private parties. For more information, visit www.monthavenartsandculturalcenter.com or call (615) 822-0789.