Peter Kaplan was born in New York City, attended The High School of Music and Art, studied fine art at Carnegie Mellon University, and graduated from The Cooper Union with a degree in painting. While at Cooper Union he studied painting and design with the distinguished artists Will Barnet and Wolf Kahn.

Upon graduation, he assisted several professional photographers in New York, and opened his own photography business several years later. For the next 25 years his work appeared in many print periodicals and annual reports.

He returned to his first love, painting,and in 1995  began reintegrating  photography into new works in oil. He now devotes his time to painting in oil on canvas, works on paper, and, most recently, began extensive use of the encaustic (wax)  process, in panels and monotypes.

He lives and works in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley.