Collection: GERSON AND JUDITH LEIBER CENTENNIAL LEGACY

The Leiber Collection in partnership with Leonard Tourné Gallery, is pleased to present “Centennial Legacy,” celebrating the artistic legacy of Judith and Gerson Leiber on what would have been their 100th year on earth together. The exhibition, curated by Ann Fristoe Stewart, will showcase a rarely seen collection of oil paintings by American Abstract Expressionist painter Gerson Leiber as well as precious minaudières—each a work of art in its own right—by world renown designer Judith Leiber.

The exhibition opens to the public on May 29, 2021 and will run through September 2021. 

The Leiber Collection and Sculpture Garden sits in the hamlet of Springs in East Hampton, NY. Springs became a thriving artists colony in the middle of the century and is often referred to as the cradle of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Jackson Pollock’s studio has been preserved nearby in the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center. Lee Krasner, Willem de Kooning, Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline, John Ferren and many other artists lived and worked in Springs throughout the 20th century. Gerson joined his peers in 1956 and maintained his studio in Springs until his death in 2018.

Born in Brooklyn in 1921, Gerson Leiber began his artistic career during World War II while stationed in Budapest, Hungary. He studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Budapest and, after the war, took up printmaking and painting at the Art Students League of New York. He later studied engraving with Gabor Peterdi at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. In the words of Ruth Appelhof, director of Guild Hall in East Hampton, Gerson Leiber is "one of a pantheon of outstanding 20th Century artists who has explored styles, even movements, with the dexterity of a gifted, extremely self-confident person always expressing his own aesthetic at the core of his work."

Art critic and curator Phyllis Braff wrote, "An artist who understands the art of his era, [Gerson] Leiber builds on the optical velocities and gestural immediacies of Abstract Expressionism." 

Gerson Leiber has had dozens of solo exhibitions in the United States and Israel and his work is included in collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum, National Gallery of Art, Boston Museum of Fine Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery, among many others. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the National Academy of Design's Benjamin Altman Prize for the Figure, The Ralph Fabri Medal of Merit, the Museum of Fine Arts Purchase Award, and the President's Award. 

Judith Leiber (née Judit Pető) was born in Budapest in 1921. She met Gerson Leiber while he was serving in Hungary; the two married in 1946 and moved to New York the following year. In 1963, Judith Leiber founded her eponymous company, which she ran successfully until her retirement in 1998. Her handbags are cherished, collected, and worn by collectors, celebrities, royalty, and First Ladies of the United States of America. Her bags belong to the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Museum of Arts and Design, among others. Judith Leiber received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers in 1994 and a Visionary Woman Award from Moore College in 2010. 

Gerson and Judith Leiber died on the same day in April 2018. Their works remain on view at the Leiber Collection and Sculpture Garden, dedicated to sharing the life and legacy of the two artists through the continuation of their museum and through exhibitions, talks, and presentations showcasing their creative genius. Leonard Tourné Gallery is honored to partner with the museum in creating this exhibition. 

For additional information or to schedule a viewing, please contact Leonard Tourné Gallery at info@leonardtourne.com or by phone at (212) 219-2656. The exhibition is also viewable online at www.leonardtournegallery.com.

The Leiber Collection and Sculpture Garden is located at 446 Old Stone Highway in the East Hampton hamlet of Springs, New York. For hours and directions, please contact The Leiber Collection at (631) 329-3288 or email info@leibercollection.org.

Video above courtesy of The Leiber Collection.