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.


51 works
  • A PRIME EXAMPLE OF CHUTZPAH by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • IRASCIBLE PAINTER SEEKS THE WATERMELON OF DESIRE by GERSON LEIBER
  • A CERTAIN JOIE DE VIVRE by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • FINALLY, A HARD WON VICTORY by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • THIS BURDEN TOO HEAVY BY FAR by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • A SURGE OF DISCOMBOBULATION by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • THE OMNIPRESENCE OF CHUTZPAH by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • I CAN´T DENY THAT CHUTZPAH IS PRESENT by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • IN MY VIEW, A BLATANT CONTRADICTION, HOWEVER by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • CAUSED BY AN INORDINATE LOVE OF OSSO BUCO by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • A SPENDTHRIFT OF ROSES by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • MANY THRUSTING COMPLEXITIES by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • I REMEMBER LARRY FLEISHMAN FONDLY by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • I REMEMBER MORRIS KANTOR FONDLY by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • DENSE YET TENDER by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • A CONCISE VIEW OF THE NORTH FORK by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • IMPASSIONED BY PURPLE PROSE by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • I HOPE FOR CONTROLLED CHAOS by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • SIMPLICITY IS HARD TO ACHIEVE by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • LET´S HAZARD A GUESS by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • I FIND THIS APPEALING by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • NO SEASHORE HOLIDAY by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • LOCAL BUT CONTAINING THE SEEDS OF THE UNIVERSAL by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • A SLIGHT LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • A CRYSTALLINE SPARK by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • THE THAW HAS BEGUN by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • HOPEFULLY, A FRUITFUL MOMENT by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • THIS IDEA HAS SLIPPED IT´S LEASH by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • A CERTAIN COSTLY RESISTANCE IS EVIDENT by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • OUR FICTIVE SUMMER HOLIDAY by GERSON LEIBER
  • LET´S GET A HOLD OF IT by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • HE FOUND HIMSELF TELEVISCERATED by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • DOES THIS PAINTING SPORT A PULSATING SURFACE? by GERSON LEIBER
  • THE IMPLICATIONS ARE CLEAR by GERSON LEIBER
  • SOME SHAPES PROVIDE A WELCOME DISCORDANCE by GERSON LEIBER
  • SUGGEST THE PLAUSIBLE BUT GO NO FURTHER by GERSON LEIBER
  • A PASSIONATE APPEAL TO THE VIEWER by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • LOW TIDE, SCAGG´S POND by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • SLIGHTLY SKEWED BUT NEVERTHELESS by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • THE SIMPLE SWAGGER OF SPRING by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • AFTER PRAYERFUL CONSIDERATION by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • SPRING DEFERRED by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • SEMI-CONTROLLED EXHUBERANCE by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • PASSIONATELY PURPLE by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • EPIC BIRD SONG! TRAGEDY DEE-DEE-DEE IS EVIDENT by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • SIMPLE, BUT CONTAINING THE SEEDS OF THE UNIVERSAL by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • JARRING, BUT YET COMPATIBLE by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • UNTITLED BLUE SKIES by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • THERE IS A TUG OF UNDECLARED WAR HERE by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery
  • THE GODS LOVE DISCORD, I HAVE PLENTY IN MY BAG by GERSON LEIBER
    Gerson Leiber-Leonard Tourne Gallery