The Leiber Collection: Garden as Muse

From: Jeffrey Sussman, Inc.

Marketing Public Relations

249 East 48 Street FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY 10017

For: The Leiber Collection

Contact: Jeffrey Sussman

212-421-4475

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www.powerpublicity.com

THE LEIBER COLLECTION:

GARDEN AS MUSE

East Hampton, NY --- The Leiber Collection, housed in a Renaissance-style, Palladian edifice, is now open to the general public. It contains an exhibition of recently curated Judith Leiber artful handbags and recent abstract garden paintings by the celebrated modernist painter Gerson Leiber.

Judith Leiber’s handbags have been carried by First Ladies to their husband’s presidential inaugurations since 1953. The handbags are on display in presidential libraries, and 80 are in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Others are in the Corcoran Galleries, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Smithsonian, and numerous regional museums around the United States. Virtually each woman who has been nominated for an Oscar, a Grammy, or an Emmy has carried a Judith Leiber handbag to the awards ceremonies. Judith’s handbags have been declared objets d'art by designer Geoffrey Beene.

Gerson Leiber was a critically acclaimed artist whose work is in such prestigious collections as The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, The Boston Museum of Fine Art, The Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art, Seattle Museum of Art, and The Yale University Art Gallery as well as many other museums. Hilton Kramer, the New York Times’ former premier art critic, praised Gerson for “his mastery and skill of composition and color.”

Harold Koda, former curator in charge of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in his introduction to Jeffrey Sussman’s biography of the Leibers, No Mere Bagatelles, wrote: “…there is a beautiful resonance of aesthetic interests between Judith and Gerson, especially in their mutual love of brilliant color and rigorous structure.” The current exhibition of paintings and handbags certainly exemplifies that statement.

Thousands of people have come to East Hampton every summer to visit the Leiber Collection. In addition to dozens of tour groups, individuals come to view the Collection from virtually every state in the union as well as from several European, South American, and Asian countries. The Collection has proven to be one of the cultural destinations of East Hampton and has been praised by newspaper and magazine reporters as well as by United States Senators Gillibrand and Schumer.

The Leiber Collection sits amidst seven acres of gardens; each one was individually designed by Gerson Leiber. The Collection and the gardens are open free-of-charge to visitors every Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday from 1 PM to 4 PM. The Leiber Collection is located at 446 Old Stone Highway, Springs, East Hampton, NY. The website is www.leibercollection.org

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