Readymag Stories: Alexander Liberman

stories

alexander liberman

Red Circle by Alexander Liberman, 1976. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of the Woodward Foundation.

series of editorials on prominent designers

for more than half a century, alexander liberman had been the dominant creative force at the condé nast empire while maintaining an independent practice as an artist.

as the company’s editorial director, he mentored several generations of editors, art directors, and photographers. a sculptor, painter, photographer, designer, editor, and writer, liberman embraced many lives in one.

Alexander Liberman on his knees looking into camera

Alexander Liberman, 1958. Photo by Frances McLaughlin-Gill. © Frances McLaughlin-Gill.

born in Kiev

works at Vu magazine, Paris

Untitled painting by Alexander Liberman. A red triangle pointed down

Untitled painting by Alexander Liberman, 1968. Oil on canvas. © Alexander Liberman Estate. Courtesy of Vallarino Fine Art.

wins a Gold Medal at the Paris International Exhibition for a magazine design presentation

An afternoon at the Libermans’, 1963. Left to right: Sylvia Sleigh, Robert Motherwell, Annalee Newman, Alexander Liberman. Alexander Liberman photography archive. Series I. Artists and personalities, circa 1925 – circa 1995. © The J. Paul Getty Trust.

emigrates to the U.S.

Vogue cover, May 1941. A female gymnast performing with a ball

art director at Vogue

Vogue cover, May 1941. Cover image by Horst P. Horst.

publishes The Artist in his Studio book

editorial director of Condé Nast Publications

An afternoon at the Libermans’, 1963. Left to right: Lawrence Alloway, Beatrice Leval, Barnett Newman, Alexander Liberman, Sylvia Sleigh, Robert Motherwell, and Annalee Newman. Liberman’s ever-present Leica camera is on the table. Alexander Liberman photography archive. Series I. Artists and personalities, circa 1925 – circa 1995. © The J. Paul Getty Trust.

dies in Miami, Florida, aged 87

i was very much impressed by the visual impact of the revolution. all the great marches through the nevsky prospect [in st. petersburg, russia] with red banners, gigantic red banners.
—alexander liberman on his earliest childhood memories in an interview with the bomb magazine.

Orb XIV painting by Alexander Liberman, 1967. Oil on canvas, 60 × 45 inches. © Alexander Liberman Estate. Courtesy of Vallarino Fine Art.

Abstraction V painting by Alexander Liberman, 1964. Lithograph on paper. Smithsonian American Art Museum, museum purchase.

Untitled painting by Alexander Liberman, 1966. Color lithograph on paper. Smithsonian American Art Museum, museum purchase.

early years

Alexander Liberman was born in 1912 in Kiev into the family of rich timber merchant Simon Liberman and theatrical actress Henrietta Pascar. After the Bolshevik Revolution, Simon took a post of economic advisor at the Soviet government and sent his son to an English boarding school. “If you can survive that, you can conquer anything,” Alexander would recall of this period. Then he moved to Paris to study mathematics, architecture, philosophy, and painting.

Equipoise by Alexander Liberman, 1967. Steel. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of the artist.

Abstraction V painting by Alexander Liberman, 1964. Lithograph on paper. Smithsonian American Art Museum, museum purchase.

Untitled painting by Alexander Liberman, 1966. Color lithograph on paper. Smithsonian American Art Museum, museum purchase.