Henry Peter, a realist, is self-taught and has taken part in a number of occupations to earn his living.  Born in Burglengenfeld, Germany in 1949, Henry Peter has worked and maintained a studio since the early seventies.  He currently resides and paints in Florida. He credits his love of nature and it's sensitive expression in his landscapes to a happy childhood spent growing up amidst the rolling hills and dark forest of southern Bavaria. "There's a sense of amazement and wonder that pervades my life and shapes my response to the world. Often just a single aspect of a scene will hold my interest long enough to produce a painting. It might be the play of sunlight through foliage or the delicate hint of color in the early morning mist; the whorls shaping a piece of driftwood or even a sand dune, the textures and patterns in grassy fields or breaking surf, the incredible variety of light and clouds and sky.  It often seems as though I am experiencing these things for the first time. I have to stop and look. I have to paint to help me understand and remember."

Henry has been painting since the age of twelve, while living with his parents in Englewood, New Jersey and has been painting seriously for 34 years. His early training came at the hands of Margaret Stucki, but Henry is mostly self-taught, letting his artistic instincts develop and shape a style that is highly realistic yet readily identifiable and personal.  He works primarily in oils and acrylics, occasionally producing award winning pen and ink pieces as well as a variety of mixed media works. Mr. Peter has exhibited and won numerous awards in regional and national shows in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, as well as Florida, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Montana. His work has been in the West Virginia "Parkersburg Realism Exhibit", and he has been a prizewinner in Wheeling's "Crosscurrents" Show.  Henry has won Merit and Contributor's Awards in the "Westmoreland Art Nationals" in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and the "Northern Nationals" in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.  Three years in a row ('92 – '94) have seen him win both "Best of Show" and "Public's Choice" awards at the East Liverpool Pottery Festival Exhibit in East Liverpool, Ohio.  He is a two time winner of the "Grace Brown Award of Excellence" presented at the Ohio River Art Festival, also in East Liverpool, Ohio, and there have also been several "Best of Show" ribbons in Salineville, Calcutta, and St. Clairsville, Ohio, and Moundsville, West Virginia.  He was a "Top 100" winner in the 1996 National "Arts for the Parks" competition in Jackson, Wyoming; which is a search for artists whose paintings best capture the essence of the landscape, wildlife and history of the more than 300 units of America's National Park System.  These top 100 paintings each year are featured in a nationally distributed catalog and a nationwide traveling show. The following year saw a return trip to Wyoming and award winning exhibit with the Cheyenne Artist's League.

Henry still travels extensively, painting and exploring the countryside.  In 1997 he traversed the U. S. several times, from Key West, Florida, to Seattle, Washington, with detours to Colorado, Utah, and Oregon.  In addition to participating in a variety of regional exhibits, show appearances in 1997 included Andover, Massachusetts; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Lexington, Kentucky; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Key West, Boca Raton, Winter Haven, Ocala and Melbourne, Florida.

This has also been a busy year for the artist. In addition to the usual Florida shows and the work involved in setting up a new studio, Henry has had another successful solo show, designed a book cover, and completed several commissions.  He exhibited his work in several regional shows in Ohio and West Virginia and won a handful of awards including a "Best of Show" and a "Best Landscape" in the Steubenville Art Association's Spring Regional.

These national awards and honors certainly attest to Henry Peter's artistic ability. In his paintings Henry Peter captures Key West architecture, marine scenes and the beautiful landscapes of the Florida Keys in a photo-realism manner.

Henry's work can be found in a growing number of corporate and private collections in the United States and Canada as well as Germany and Great Britain.  In Florida he has been represented by the Richard Danskin Gallery in Palm Beach, and is currently represented by Gingerbread Square Gallery in Key West, Florida.