Peter Saul American, b. 1934
"Peter Saul has spent sixty years being too political for the art world and too artistic for politics — an anarchic, gleefully offensive visionary who has finally received the recognition he always deserved."
Peter Saul (born 1934) is an American painter whose fiercely irreverent, grotesquely comic work has placed him outside mainstream art movements for most of his career, only to be reappraised as a visionary precursor to the Neo-Expressionism, Bad Painting, and political cartoon traditions he inspired. Working in vivid, clashing colours with a visceral, cartoonish figuration, he has addressed American politics, consumer culture, and social violence with savage wit since the late 1950s. His recent retrospectives at MoMA PS1 and the Frye Art Museum have established his place in the canon.
"I want the painting to be offensive to everyone — Democrats, Republicans, art critics, art collectors. Nobody gets off."
Peter Saul was born on 16 August 1934 in San Francisco. He studied at the California School of Arts and Crafts and at Washington University in St. Louis (BFA, 1956), then spent several years in Europe — Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome — before returning to the United States in the early 1960s. His early work shows the influence of de Kooning and Dubuffet, but his style rapidly evolved into something entirely his own: a crude, violently coloured figuration full of melting, distorted bodies, speech bubbles, and American cultural detritus.
From the mid-1960s, Saul engaged directly with American politics. His Vietnam War paintings (1966–1967) were among the most scathing anti-war art produced during that conflict. His depictions of Nixon, Reagan, and later Trump are savage political caricatures of remarkable intensity. Yet he has also turned his satirical eye on the art world itself — his paintings of Picasso, Johns, and de Kooning are both homage and parody.
Despite decades of relative critical neglect, Saul continued to produce prolifically and with unwavering conviction. His retrospective at MoMA PS1 in New York in 2020 — organised by Laura Hoptman — finally secured his place in American art history. He lives and works in Austin, Texas.
Major exhibitions: MoMA PS1, New York (2020, retrospective); Frye Art Museum, Seattle (2021); Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York; David Nolan Gallery, New York.
Works in public collections: Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Frye Art Museum, Seattle; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
Selected bibliography: Laura Hoptman, Peter Saul, MoMA PS1, 2020; Dan Cameron, Peter Saul, New Museum, 1999.