Peter Max is a world-famous artist whose works adorn the walls of politicians, movie stars and possibly even some dictators. His works are also on display in hundreds of museums and galleries around the globe.
He did paintings for six United States presidents. He painted a startling design for the Continental Airlines jumbo 777 airliner. And, he is the official artist for the 2006 US Olympic Team.
From a humble but amazingly interesting background, Max grew up in Shanghai, where his father owned a department store, and he also lived in India. We chatted together recently about his career.
JCH: Being a film critic, I ‘m interested in which movie stars have bought your paintings.
PM: I’m a huge film buff. The stars who own my paintings are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone. I can’t even begin to tell you. It’s probably in the hundreds.

JCH: When did you hit your first fame?
PM: You know, it happened after I got out of art school in the mid-’60s. I was a “realist.” I painted like Velasquez, John Singer Sergeant and Michelangelo. I spent six and a half years in an art school on 57th Street. Marilyn Monroe used to come in there. She used to come to the art school, and (San Diego’s own) Dennis Hopper used to pop in and a bunch of other movie stars used to come in. A friend of mine sat next to Norman Rockwell in school.

JCH: So your first pieces of work were in the “realistic” style and not in your current signature style?
PM: Yes, I became a realist and everyone said my stuff was amazing, but everywhere I went looking for work they would say, “If we want realism, we’ll just get photography.” It was at that juncture when photography became big, with Richard Avedon and Scavullo and the other big names. All the greats came out and they would just keep the shutter open and in 30 seconds they would shoot 45 pictures. Suddenly, nobody wanted realism in art.

JCH: What influenced your change from realism in your art?
PM: Because I was an astronomy buff, and because in the beginning I thought that was what I would do, I took a bus to work ” probably the last time in my life I took a bus ” and had some drawings with me. A big ad agency art director saw something at the bottom of my portfolio. I said, “Oh, no, it’s nothing. It’s not realism.” What it was, was the stuff I’m now known for ” the stars. I was shy about it and kept saying, “Oh no, it’s really nothing to see.” He kept insisting he see it. And this is true: after crying my eyes out for months without any work, I walked out of that ad agency with 14 assignments at $150 apiece! That’s a big payday even for today’s artists. I delivered those first ones and then I walked out with 43 more assignments.

JCH: What happened to you after that?
PM: Every art director at every ad agency gave me an assignment. They all wanted that look because it was different and new. In the next 18 months I won 66 gold medals in three different award events. The big names that I admired ” Tony Palladino, Milton Glaser ” usually won one or two every year. All the big names were there and they came up to praise me. I was blown away! I wanted to praise them, you know what I mean? It took me a week to get over it.

JCH: The awards obviously helped your career.
PM: Oh, yes. I got my work into museums, galleries, ad agencies used my images, and licensing people came to me. And then it really hit big. I thought I had peaked beyond belief when LIFE magazine did an eight-page cover story on me. I thought, “Oh, my God. This can’t be happening to me. I thought LIFE was reserved for people like Eisenhower and Churchill.

JCH: Did you have a big publicist at the time?
PM: No! No! It just happened! One day I was having coffee in a little diner. A guy came up to me and asked if I had had any PR. I said, “What’s PR?” He said he could get my name in the papers. He was my first publicist, and I think I paid him $11. Not today, boy!

Peter Max will make appearances at the Wentworth Gallery in La Jolla on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 4 and 5, from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be a showing of more than 300 of his works, including some from the collection of La Jollan Gordon Williamson.
The gallery is located at 1025 Prospect St.
For further information, call (858) 551-7071, see the book “The Art of Peter Max” (2002 Abrams) or check the Web site, www.petermax.com.