Arts & Entertainment
A Celebration of Judith & Gerson Leiber
The Leiber Collection in Springs will host a celebration of the lives and works of Judith & Gerson Leiber on July 28.
From: Jeffrey Sussman, Inc.
Marketing Public Relations
249 East 48 Street FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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New York, NY 10017
For: The Leiber Collection
Find out what's happening in East Hamptonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Contact: Jeffrey Sussman
212-421-4475
THE LEIBER COLLECTION ANNOUNCES
A CELEBRATION OF THE LIVES AND WORKS OF
JUDITH AND GERSON LEIBER
East Hampton, NY - On July 28 at 2 PM, the Leiber Collection, located at 446 Old Stone Highway in Springs, will be the site for a joyous celebration of the lives and works of Judith and Gerson Leiber.
The Leibers each died on April 28, 2018. They were both ill. Judith was 97 and Gerson was 96. Gerson had stood over Judith’s bed the night before their deaths and whispered, “Sweetie, I think it’s time for both of us to go.” Later, in the early morning hours of the next day, he died five-and-half hours before Judith breathed her last breath. It seemed as if they had willed their nearly simultaneous departures.
Theirs had been lives of mutual support, and that mutuality continued to the end of their marriage of 72 years. With Gerson’s urging, Judith had established the Judith Leiber Company in 1963, and she produced the most artful handbags the world has ever beheld. And with her support, Gerson became the acclaimed modernist painter that he was.
There are more than 80 Judith Leiber handbags in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and each First Lady, from 1953 to 2000, carried a Judith Leiber handbag to her husband’s presidential inauguration. Last year, the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, celebrated Judith’s achievements with a one-woman retrospective exhibition.
Gerson Leiber’s paintings are represented in the permanent collections of the most prestigious museums in the United States. In the last four years of his life, he had a half dozen one-man shows in galleries on Long Island and in Manhattan, as well as in numerous other locations.
The celebration at the Leiber Collection will conclude with reminiscences by some of the Leibers’ closest friends, including their biographer, Jeffrey Sussman; the Leiber Collection curator Ann Stewart; and the Leiber Foundation trustee Patti Kenner.
Through the generosity of the Judith and Gerson Leiber Foundation, countless lovers of art and fashion will behold the accomplishments of two fine artists. Visitors will enjoy the current exhibition of handbags and paintings in a Renaissance-style Palladian museum, which is situated in a beautiful sculpture garden.
The Leibers would be pleased to know that fans of their works will continue to enjoy their visits to the Leiber gallery and gardens, for it is the legacy the Leibers worked so diligently to ensure. The Leiber Collection is, indeed, their generous contribution to posterity. In their memory, donations can be made to the Judith and Gerson Leiber Foundation, 446 Old Stone Highway, East Hampton, NY 11937. For further information about the Foundation and/or to RSVP for those who will attend the celebration on July 28, please email info@leibercollection.org or phone 631-329-3288
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