jaren zestig stijl

Bob Peak (1927-1992) was een invloedrijk illustrator en reclametekenaar

Sommige tekenaars hebben zo’n herkenbare stijl dat ze een icoon van een tijdperk zijn geworden. Bob Peak en Peter Max hebben in Nederland niet echt een bekende naam. Maar deze beide illustratoren hebben wel hun stempel gedrukt op de stylistische overgang van de sixties naar de seventies, die in de late jaren zestig internationaal duidelijk zichtbaar werd en breed is nagevolgd. Sla een willekeurig magazine open, dat tussen 1966 en 1973 verschenen is, en je vindt wel een advertentie of illustratie in de stijl van Peak of Max. De simplistische cosmic sixties style van Peter Max is gemakkelijk te herkennen aan de harde kleuren en vereenvoudigde en vaak verdubbele contouren terwijl Peak‘s stijl herkenbaar is aan een woeste maar beheerste ‘krijtstreep’.

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Beide stijlen hebben een psychedelische uitstraling, vooral in het knallende ‘fauvistische’ kleurgebruik. Op flickr.com heeft Leif Peng (todaysinspiration.com) een schitterende verzameling advertenties van Bob Peak bijeengebracht, die duidelijk laat zien dat we hier niet alleen met een knap tekenaar maar ook met een groot stylistisch talent te maken hebben.

In the late 60′s, Bob Peak began a new way of working. Where his early illustrations had a tremendous degree of texture and a sort of wildly gestural quality of movement, now Peak applied his always brilliant sense of design and colour and tempered them in a style that gave a nod to the ‘psychedelic’ counter culture pop art movement of the day. During this period, Peak was producing exciting new work with tremendous confidence that propelled him to the front of the pack. He received a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators in 1967 for his movie poster art for the film Camelot.
 
Bron: todaysinspiration.com
affiche voor Camelot
filmposter voor Camelot 1967
Voor dit affiche heeft Peak zich door Alphonse Mucha laten inspireren en hij won er in 1967 een gouden medaille voor.
No illustrator has done more to integrate the techniques of such modernist schools as Fauvism, Art Nouveau, Cubism, and Futurism into the visual vocabulary of the broader culture. A characteristic piece is the one above at right from his series for the film Camelot. Peak layers multiple images into one, utilizes modernist rendering techniques for the various visual elements, and brings it all together with a flamboyant, decorative use of color.
 
Bron: polculture.blogspot.com

Bob PeakBorn in Denver, Colorado, Bob Peak grew up in Kansas. He knew from an early age that he wanted to be a commercial illustrator. At age seven, he received a gift of brushes and paints, and by age nine he was drawing recognizable likenesses. He attended Wichita State University where he majored in geology with a minor in art and got a part time job in the art department of McCormick-Armstrong. That is where he gained the confidence to choose an art career and learned the skill of versatility-doing layout, illustration and lettering. After a stint in the military during the Korean War, Peak transferred to the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, and graduated in 1951.

In 1953 Peak moved to New York, landed an Old Hickory Whiskey ad campaign, and from that point on his career skyrocketed. His work appeared in major advertising and national magazines. Sports Illustrated sent him on assignments throughout the world, including a safari to hunt ibex with the Shah of Iran. He received the largest commission of an individual artist from the U.S. Postal Service to design 30 stamps for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California and 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. In 1961 Peak was named Artist of the Year by the Artists Guild of New York, and in 1977 the Society of Illustrators elected him to its Hall of Fame. For his 30 years of outstanding contribution to the film industry, the Hollywood Reporter presented him the 1992 Key Art Lifetime Achievement Award.Peak’s work is included in many permanent collections, and three of these paintings-of Anwar Sadat, Mother Teresa and Marion Brando-hang in the Smithsonian Institution.

Bron: bobpeak.com

bobpeak.com