AmesNews: No. 25, Spring 2007
GALLERY NEWS
Harry Lieberman: 103 Years Young
April – June 10, 2007
Some time has passed since we devoted the Gallery to a one-person show. From April 15–June 10 we will present a collection of works by the legendary artist Harry Lieberman.
Lieberman was born in 1880, in Gnieveshev, Poland. The nephew of a Hassidic rabbi, he prepared for the rabbinate, but forsook that career and emigrated to the United States in 1906. First a clothing cutter, then a candy manufacturer, he retired in his late 70s and joined a Golden Age club in Great Neck, NY.
One day, when his chess partner failed to arrive, he followed a suggestion to try the painting class. Thus began his career as artist, painting subjects related to his study of the Talmud, the Gemera, the Cabala, Hasidism, the Old Testament, and Hebrew and Yiddish literature. Lieberman continued painting for the rest of his long life. Lieberman’s colorful palette and his use of floating figures bring to mind the work of Chagall, and seem to speak to their common heritage.
Over the years, he produced a large body of work; Lieberman’s paintings are in collections of the Seattle Museum of Art, the Miami University Art Museum in Oxford Ohio, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC, the American Folk Art Museum, and in many important collections of Jewish ethnic and religious folk art, both public and private.
There has been some confusion about Lieberman’s age. It was not until Museum of American Folk Art curator Stacy Hollander researched his history that his birth certificate was found. Although he had claimed to be 106, in actuality when he died in 1983 he was just shy of 103 years old. There is a wonderful portrait of him as he purports to celebrate his 103rd birthday: “103 Years Young,” by Light-Saraf Films (see below). At the age of 97, Lieberman said, “I do feel painting is my most important work. I don’t believe there is a life Upstairs. The life I got now is the heavenly reward because when I die my paintings will be here and people will enjoy.”
Deborah Barret
Deborah Barrett’s amazing drawings, collages and small sculptures have been part of our personal collection for a great many years. They have consistently drawn the attention of visitors who tour the gallery. We have therefore decided to include a selection of Deborah’s extraordinary works in the gallery’s inventory to make them available to this enthusiastic audience.
Her distinctive images utilize a wide variety of materials: pencil, ink, fabric scraps, and even stitching are worked over pages of old journals, maps and photographs to produce enigmatic, minimalist collaged portraits of people and animals. Barrett’s sculptural pieces, never more than a foot high, are created from scrap: bits of wood, wire, metal and seeds are transformed to human like-nesses. They are whimsical, humorous and exquisitely rendered.
ON DVD
Visions of Paradise
Five half- hour films about American folk artists by Academy Award winners Allie Light and Irving Saraf have been made available on a single DVD.“These magical films of humor, tragedy and wisdom celebrate the human obsession to create in the face of adverse circumstances and lack of formal schooling. Filmed in California, New York, North Carolina and the Nevada desert where the artists live and work, the series captures moments of creation and depicts events that shaped each artist’s work.”
This is a compilation of five short documentary films on the work of various folk artists; in this case Calvin and Ruby Black’s “Possum Trot,” Grandma Prisbey’s bottle village, Harry Lieberman celebrating his 103rd birthday, Minnie Evans, and the Monument of Chief Rolling Thunder. Copies can be ordered for $45 plus shipping, see their website: www.lightsaraffilms.com.
We’re looking forward to the fall, as Jo Farb Hernandez again curates a show of the entire works of A.G. Rizzoli. We are working with Intuit in Chicago, who will host the event, which is the first comprehensive exhibition since the San Diego Museum hosted the original show in 1997.
All of Rizzoli’s drawings and personal memorabilia will be on view. Save the dates: September 14th–January 5th, and remember there is a talk by Jo Hernandez planned for September 15th. Watch our website for further updates, and check Intuit’s site www.art.org for details.
We’re also proud to announce that the prestigious ABCD Collection Art Brut in France has recently acquired Rizzoli’s “Abraham Zachariah” from the Gallery. They are assembling an important international collection of Outsider Art (we are already represented there by a Dwight Mackintosh and an Attilio Crescenti), and the addition of this Rizzoli piece is quite exciting. See more about ABCD at www.abcd-artbrut.org.
We’ll also keep you posted on the planned re-release of Pat Ferrero’s film about Rizzoli, “Yield to Total Elation” on DVD. .
GALLERY NOTES
It’s happened again! We’ve gotten totally off schedule
with our newsletter — but as we look forward to a busy spring schedule, we’re hoping to get everything back on track.
First let me thank all of you who sent kind wishes on our 50th wedding anniversary. Your greetings were much appreciated.
Also looking back, in October the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show celebrated its silver anniversary and paid tribute to Toby Rose, who created this exciting event and made it the success it has been. Both Toby and Executive Director Terry Grant plan to step down, but this exemplary antiques show will continue as a benefit for Enterprise for High School Students under the guidance of Lisa Podos.
Two outstanding events are coming up in April (see Calendar, pages 3 and 4): the Intuit Show in Chicago and the Los Angeles Antiques Show. You’ll find me in L.A., and Karen in Chicago, as the shows are on the same weekend of April 28 and 29.
Whether in Berkeley, or at any of the shows on our Calendar, we are always delighted to see you.
--Bonnie Grossman, Director
