Max Thomson was born in Wanganui in 1945, and has a long family connection with the Wanganui river and the West Coast. He moved with his family to Auckland in the early 1960s. From an early age Max showed a great interest in the arts, particularly in music, painting and drawing. As it happened, for thirty five years Max worked as a professional photographer specialising and excelling in the fields of fashion and advertising. For Max though, his longtime interest in painting and drawing never faded and he now paints full time. Max has exhibited his work in many group exhibitions and has had five solo shows. His formative years spent in provincial New Zealand have had a profound effect on his choice of subject matter. This is evidenced in his constant return to the natural landscape for inspiration.