Peter was a Russian-American sculptor best known for his work in ceramics and his chess sets. The subjects of his sculptures were largely people or animals. He patented many of his animal sculptures, which were then reproduced in plastic and sold inexpensively.

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His most popular designs were a whale - which won a prize from the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art - and an "uncapsizable duck,"of which over 50,000,000 were sold. When he gave human faces to chess pieces, he introduced the "first major change of design for chess sets in more than a century."

 

Peter was born on October 11, 1900 and died on August 11, 1974. He began his art studies in Russia, and after spending five years as a trader in the Belgian Congo, he came to the US in 1931 on a scholarship to Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

 

He settled in Hollywood in 1932, where he lived until his death. His work was championed by longtime Los Angeles Times art editor and critic Arthur Millier