Paintings from the 1930s, 40s and 50s

Press Release

Max Weber: Paintings from the 1930s, 40s and 50s
(November 13 – December 19, 2008)

Max Weber (1881 – 1961) was among the first artists to bring the modernist revolution to the United States and the first American modernist painter to merit a museum solo exhibition in 1913. On view at the Gerald Peters Gallery New York from Nov. 13 – Dec. 19, 2008, Max Weber: Paintings from the 1930s, 40s and 50s will offer visitors an unprecedented opportunity to examine key works comprising the artist’s later years. Featuring many works that have not been exhibited in decades, the more than 50 paintings and works on paper were
selected from the Estate of Max Weber and include several paintings that were part of the artist’s landmark retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1949.

Curated by Gallery Director, Lily Downing Burke, Max Weber: Paintings from the 1930s, 40s and 50s will highlight Weber’s masterful still lifes, signature interiors, evocative landscapes, and female nudes, as well as offer a remarkable selection of the artist’s more somber, religious and socially conscious works from the
war years.

Born in Bialystok, Russia and raised in Brooklyn, Max Weber left New York in 1905 for Paris, where he studied with Henri Matisse and witnessed the development of Fauvism and Cubism. Upon returning to America in 1909, Weber transposed radical Parisian ideas onto New York subjects with paintings, which reflected the influence of Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, and Rousseau. During this period, Weber’s Jewish subjects and signature motifs began to gain both critical attention and the interest of influential collectors including Mabel Dodge and Duncan Phillips. By the 1930’s, Weber’s own distinctive expressionistic style fully emerged in paintings of idealized landscapes, domestic scenes, and genre paintings that often reflected his political and religious beliefs.

Gerald Peters Gallery was founded in 1972 in Santa Fe and opened a gallery in New York in 1992. Since its inception, the New York gallery has focused on organizing premier, thought-provoking exhibitions of works by American Masters including: Robert Henri: The Painted Spirit; Georgia O’Keeffe; Leon Kroll Rediscovered; Bierstadt’s West; American Modernism: The Francoise and Harvey Rambach Collection; Ernest Lawson; William Glackens; John Sloan, An American View, and Marguerite Zorach: A Life in Art, along with numerous exhibitions on contemporary painting, photography, and sculpture.

Press Contact: Cecilia Bonn (212) 734-9754, Cbonn@nyc.rr.com, Cecilia Bonn Marketing & Communications