later managing editor. AtVu, he became known for
his innovative photomontage covers that recalled
Russian Constructivism, and he also met photogra-
phers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassaı ̈, and Andre ́
Kerte ́sz. In 1936, Liberman left the publication to
devote himself to painting.
Shortly after Germany invaded France, Liber-
man escaped to New York where his parents and
several acquaintances had already settled. The year
was 1941, and Lucien Vogel was already working
for Conde ́Nast and convinced him to hire Liber-
man atVogue.Although the art director initially
dismissed him, Liberman was rehired by Nast him-
self who was impressed with his gold medal for
magazine design from the 1937 International Expo-
sition in Paris. Liberman began designing covers
forVogue and was promoted to art director in
- He would go on to become editorial director
of Conde ́ Nast Publications in 1962, a post he
would hold for over 30 years.
In the early 1940s, Liberman stopped painting as
he settled into his new life in the United States. His
mother reacquainted him with many artists in exile
whom they had known in France such as Fernand
Le ́ger and Marc Chagall, and he began commis-
sioning illustrations for Vogue from artists he
admired, including Salvador Dalı ́, Joseph Cornell,
and Marcel Duchamp.
Liberman’s acknowledgement of the shift in
social attitudes during World War II would have
a profound influence onVogueand all of fashion
photography. He felt that the new era deserved less
whimsical images of women and more candid, ori-
ginal fashion reportage. Liberman highly respected
the work of Edward Steichen and his ability to
capture the true essence of his subjects. He sought
to set a new standard—just as Steichen had revo-
lutionized photography at Conde ́ Nast Publica-
tions years earlier. For that reason, he recruited
photographers with gritty documentary and experi-
mental sensibilities—Allan and Diane Arbus,
Erwin Blumenfeld, Irving Penn, Gordon Parks,
William Klein, John Rawlings, and Helmut New-
ton—and he would later enlist the talent of
Richard Avedon and Patrick Demarchelier.
In 1948, Liberman sent Penn, who began as his
assistant in 1943, on assignment to Lima, Peru,
where he would take the legendary photograph of
model Jean Patchett sitting in a cafe ́with her elbow
on the table, holding her pearls to her lips and
staring past the gentleman seated with her. Liber-
man described Penn’s almost accidental image as
‘‘a woman caught in an everyday moment—the
imperfection of actual life.’’ He regarded the aus-
tere clarity of Penn’s photography as characteristi-
cally modern, and Penn would later credit
Liberman with teaching him to ‘‘capture the ges-
ture of a real person.’’
Actual life to Liberman was about art, and
Voguewould become a forum for contemporary
art. In 1947, Liberman began to make annual visits
to France where he photographed the painters and
sculptors of the School of Paris such as Picasso,
Braque, and Matisse. Several of these artists, like
Le ́ger and Chagall, he had known for years. What
began as a series of photo essays forVoguebecame
his most acclaimed exhibition at the Museum of
Modern Art, New York in 1959 and a successful
book entitledThe Artist in His Studiopublished in- James Thrall Soby described Liberman’s
unaffected portraits of these artists in their studios
and homes as having an ‘‘extraordinary visual sen-
sitivity’’ and a ‘‘rare capacity for psychological
insight.’’ He also photographed his contemporaries
from the New York School such as Jasper Johns,
Robert Raushenberg, and Helen Frankenthaler.
Many of these portraits were to be collected in a
book titledNine Americans, which remains unpub-
lished. Liberman’s portraits of artists comprise a
timeless record and key understanding of the artis-
tic process that he felt critical accounts could not
achieve alone. Selections of these portraits were
included in the exhibitionPortraits of Artists by
Alexander Libermanat the Getty Research Insti-
tute in 2003.
Liberman was a man of astonishing versatility,
and he was also a prolific painter and sculptor who
exhibited regularly since 1954. His sculpture and
paintings are in the collections of major museums,
such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Corcoran,
the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the
Tate Gallery in London. His public sculpture can
be seen around the world, including the Storm
King Art Center and the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden.
In the 1990s, Liberman published three more
volumes of photographs: a tribute to his close
friend Marlene Dietrich, his photographs of the
Capitoline Hill in Rome, and a collection of images
from the course of his life. Alexander Liberman
died in Miami in 1999.
AnneBlecksmith
Seealso:Arbus, Diane; Avedon, Richard; Blumen-
feld, Erwin; Brassaı ̈; Cartier-Bresson, Henri; Conde ́
Nast; Fashion Photography; Kerte ́sz, Andre ́; Klein,
William; Newton, Helmut; Penn, Irving; Steichen,
Edward
LIBERMAN, ALEXANDER