PETER LIPPMAN, born in 1936, grew up and resides in New York City. An artist who works primarily in watercolors, he also utilizes other materials as diverse as bronze and styrofoam.  

Lippman attended Columbia College and Columbia University, where he received a B.A., B.Arch., and M.Arch. degrees. Upon graduation, he worked briefly in an architectural firm but decided a life spent in an office/corporate environment was not for him.  

 

While embarking on what was to become a successful career as a graphic artist, Lippman wrote and edited articles on architecture and decorative arts for the Columbia Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed.  His illustrations began to appear in and on the covers of a large number of magazines and newspapers including Holiday, The Saturday Evening Post, Publishers' Weekly, Harper's and The New York Times.  Lippman was represented for many years by John Locke, the premier artists representative of  his day.  At that time, he also became deeply involved in the world of children's books, both as a writer and as an illustrator. 

 

Lippman's first book, Plunkety Plunk, was selected by The New York Times as one of the best illustrated children’s books of the year. More than 50 of his books have been published since, including the cult classic, The Great Escape, or The Sewer Story.  In the early 1990's he invented and was granted a utility patent for a new three-dimensional book format where the book,  when closed, is a free-standing sculpture in the shape of a building such as a castle or barn, and  when open, is a  board book.  It is the basis of a line of 14 titles designed and illustrated by Lippman and published by Workman Publishing.  Still in print  after more than 20 years since the advent of the first Mini-House book, they have sold more than three million copies.

 

At the same time that Lippman was engaged in magazine illustration and children's books, he created paintings and sculptures which he showed occasionally at such New York City galleries as Albert Loeb and Weyhe. They, however, took a back seat to his other pursuits. 

 

Now the situation has been reversed, and it is fine art painting to which he's devoting his time, energy, and thought.