Robert M. Peak (May 30, 1927 – August 1, 1992) was an American

commercial illustrator Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of promo ...

. He is best known for his developments in the design of the modern

film poster A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. The ...

. His

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

has been on the cover of ''Time'' magazine, ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'', and ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

''. He also illustrated advertisements and U.S. postage stamps.

Early life

Bob Peak was born in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado, and grew up in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

. He knew from an early age that he wanted to be a commercial illustrator. He majored in geology at the University of Wichita (nka

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

) and got a part-time job in the art department of McCormick-Armstrong. After serving in the military during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, Peak transferred to the

Art Center College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

in Los Angeles, California, graduating in 1951. In 1953, Peak moved to New York City and landed an Old Hickory Whiskey advertising campaign. His work went on to appear in major advertising and national magazines. He was the father of Matthew Peak, who is best known for illustrating posters for the ''Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series.

Career

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

studio hired Peak in 1961 to design the poster images for the film ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

''. The success of Peak's work on that film led to work on posters for designer

Bill Gold William Gold (January 3, 1921 – May 20, 2018) was an American graphic designer best known for thousands of film poster designs. During his 70-year career, Gold worked with some of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers, including Laurence Olivier, Cl ...

, including the big-budget musicals ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...

'' and ''

Camelot Camelot is a legendary castle and Royal court, court associated with King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described ...

''. In the mid-1970s, Peak's style would become familiar to fans of

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...

s when he created the poster art for the futuristic film '' Rollerball'' (1975), which was followed by the first five ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' films, ''

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

'' (1978), ''

Excalibur Excalibur is the mythical sword of King Arthur that may possess magical powers or be associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. Its first reliably datable appearance is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. E ...

'' (1981), both ''

Derek Flint Derek Flint is a fictional world adventurer and master spy featured in a series of movies and comic books. Flint, a parody of James Bond and Doc Savage, is an agent for Z.O.W.I.E. (Zonal Organization World Intelligence Espionage). Origins In 1965 ...

'' films, ''

Apocalypse Now ''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American psychological epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius, and Michael Herr, is loosely inspired by the 1899 novella '' Heart of Darkn ...

(1979)'', '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' and other

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

concepts. By the 1980s, only the film poster artist

Drew Struzan Drew Struzan (; born March 18, 1947) is an American retired artist, illustrator and cover designer. He is known for his more than 150 movie posters, which include ''The Shawshank Redemption'', ''Blade Runner'', ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', as ...

was in as much demand by film directors. Peak received a commission from the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

to design 30 stamps for the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

in Los Angeles and the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: ; ) and commonly known as Sarajevo '84 (Serbian Cy ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. From January 20 through April 17, 2011, the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

presented the "Bob Peak: Creating the Modern Movie Poster" exhibit at its headquarters building in Beverly Hills. Peak taught in his own college and later at

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

and

Famous Artists School Famous Artists School is an art correspondence course institution, in operation since 1948. The school was founded by members of the New York Society of Illustrators, principally Albert Dorne and Norman Rockwell. History The Famous Artists ...

Illustrations

* ''

Fate of a Man ''Fate of a Man'' (, translit. Sudjba cheloveka), also released as ''A Man's Destiny'' and ''Destiny of a Man,'' is a 1959 Soviet World War II film adaptation of the short story by Mikhail Sholokhov, and also the directorial debut of Sergei Bond ...

'', movie poster illustration (U.S. release), 1959 * ''

'', movie poster illustration, 1961 * ''

The Leopard ''The Leopard'' ( ) is a novel by Italian writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, which chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the ''Risorgimento''. Published posthumously in 1958 by Feltrinelli, after two rejections by the ...

'', movie poster illustration (U.S. release), 1963 * ''

'', movie poster illustration, 1964 * ''

The Cincinnati Kid ''The Cincinnati Kid'' is a 1965 American drama film directed by Norman Jewison. It tells the story of Eric "The Kid" Stoner, a young Depression-era poker player, as he seeks to establish his reputation as the best. This quest leads him to chal ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1965 * '' The Liquidator'', movie poster illustration, 1965 * ''

Lord Jim ''Lord Jim'' is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in '' Blackwood's Magazine'' from October 1899 to November 1900. An early and primary event in the story is the abandonment of a passenger ship in distress by its crew, ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1965 * ''

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1966 * ''

Modesty Blaise ''Modesty Blaise'' is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talen ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1966 * ''

Our Man Flint ''Our Man Flint'' is a 1966 American spy-fi comedy film that parodies the ''James Bond'' film series. The film was directed by Daniel Mann, written by Hal Fimberg and Ben Starr (from a story by Hal Fimberg), and starred James Coburn as maste ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1966 * ''

'', movie poster illustration, 1967 * ''

In Like Flint ''In Like Flint'' is a 1967 American spy fi comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas, the sequel to the parody spy film '' Our Man Flint'' (1966). It posits an international feminist conspiracy to depose the ruling American patriarchy with a f ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1967 * ''

Thoroughly Modern Millie ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' is a 1967 American musical romantic comedy film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Julie Andrews. The screenplay by Richard Morris, based on the 1956 British musical ''Chrysanthemum'', follows a naïve young ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1967 * '' The Wanderer'', movie poster illustration (U.S. release), 1967 * ''

For Love of Ivy ''For Love of Ivy'' is a 1968 American romantic comedy film directed by Daniel Mann. The film stars Sidney Poitier, Abbey Lincoln, Beau Bridges, Nan Martin, Lauri Peters, and Carroll O'Connor. The story was written by Poitier with screenw ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1968 * '' A Dream of Kings'', movie poster illustration, 1969 * '' Funny Girl'', movie poster illustration, 1969 * '' Lions Love (... and Lies)'', movie poster illustration (alternate poster), 1969 * ''

The Secret of Santa Vittoria ''The Secret of Santa Vittoria'' is a 1969 American war film distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and co-produced by George Glass from a screenplay by Ben Maddow and William Rose. It was based on the ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1969 * '' There Was a Crooked Man...'', movie poster illustration, 1970 * '' Cesar & Rosalie'', movie poster illustration (U.S. release), 1972 * '' The Great Waltz'', movie poster illustration, 1972 * ''

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to emulate the hardware of arcade games, video game consoles, old computers and other systems in software on modern personal computers and ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1974 * '' The Voyage'', movie poster illustration (U.S. release), 1974 * ''

The Yakuza is a 1974 neo-noir crime drama film directed and produced by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura and Brian Keith. The screenplay by Paul Schrader and Robert Towne is from a story by Schrader's brother, Leonard Schrader. ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1974 * '' Rollerball'', movie poster illustration, 1975 * ''

That's Entertainment, Part II ''That's Entertainment, Part II'' is a 1976 American compilation film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and a sequel to ''That's Entertainment!'' (1974).''Variety Film Reviews, Variety'' film review; May 5, 1976, page 18. Like the previous film, '' ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1975 * ''

The Missouri Breaks ''The Missouri Breaks'' is a 1976 American Western film starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. The film was directed by Arthur Penn, with supporting performances by Randy Quaid, Harry Dean Stanton, Frederic Forrest, John McLiam, and Ka ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1976 * '' Equus'', movie poster illustration, 1977 * '' Islands in the Stream'', movie poster illustration, 1977 * '' The Spy Who Loved Me'', movie poster illustration, 1977 * ''

Every Which Way But Loose ''Every Which Way but Loose'' is a 1978 American action comedy film released by Warner Bros. starring Clint Eastwood in an uncharacteristic and offbeat comedy role. It was produced by Robert Daley and directed by James Fargo. Eastwood plays ...

'', movie poster illustration, 1978 * ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...

'', movie poster illustration (alternate poster), 1978 * ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

'', movie poster illustration (alternate poster), 1979 * ''

'', movie poster illustration, 1979 * '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'', movie poster illustration, 1979 * '' Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'', movie poster illustration, 1982 * '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'', movie poster illustration, 1984 * '' Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'', movie poster illustration, 1986 * '' Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'', movie poster illustration, 1989

Awards

In 1961, Peak was named Artist of the Year by the

Graphic Artists Guild The Graphic Artists Guild is a guild of graphic designers, illustrators, and photographers and is organized into seven chapters around the United States. It is a member of the international organization Icograda. History In the mid-1960s most a ...

New York chapter. He won eight Awards of Excellence and four gold medals from

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators (SoI) is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. Since absorbing the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (M ...

. In 1977, the Society of Illustrators inducted him to its Hall of Fame. ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' presented him the 1992 Key Art Award, now known as the Clio Entertainment Awards.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peak, Bob 1927 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American male artists 20th-century American illustrators Film poster artists Wichita State University alumni Artists from Denver Artists from Wichita, Kansas American military personnel of the Korean War ArtCenter College of Design alumni

Early life

Career

Illustrations

Awards

See also

References

External links