​​SUZANNE ZUBER

The German painter Max Liebermann (1847-1935) was one of the country's most renowned cultural figures, until his career was anhihilated with the Nazi takeover in 1933. His dominant presence was particularly evident during the last quarter of the 19th century, first with his naturalist painting of common workers, which gained him immediate notoriety, and soon thereafter as he introduced French Impressionist art to Germany. Following the debut of Max Liebermann: From Realism to Impressionism at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, the Jewish Museum show, curated by Dr. Mason Klein, examined how Liebermann’s Jewish identity informed his aesthetic choices. While this artist had long represented the first generation of emancipated Jewish artists in Germany, his art – and the way he altered it in reaction to public opinion, also reflected his equivocal status in German society as a Jew. The exhibition and book trace the relationship between stylistic changes in Liebermann’s art and the changing social and political climate in which the artist lived and worked.

As curatorial assistant, Suzanne Zuber collaborated on all facets of the exhibition, including the selection of 45 artworks for display at the Jewish Museum venue. She facilitated and negotiated additional loans from German and American collections that pertained to the Jewish Museum’s particular focus and were shown in New York only. Ms. Zuber researched, wrote and edited interpretive wall texts and collaborated on the exhibition concept, interpretation, installation, programming and publicity. She gave donor tours, instructed and supervised docents and other museum departments on Max Liebermann and his times, and gave a public lecture on the artist. For the exhibition catalogue, Ms. Zuber wrote a chronology that examines the life and work of Max Liebermann in the context of Art and Culture, Jewish History, and Politics in Germany and France. The chronology also served as wall text in the Skirball exhibition space.