Herbert Ferber (American, –1991)

Timeline

1906
Born in New York City
1923
Graduated from Morris High School in the Bronx
1927
Awarded Bachelor of Science Degree, Columbia University, New York.
1927–1930
Studies sculpture at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, New York
1930
Expelled from the National Academy of Design for sculpting nonacademic, figurative work; exhibited landscape and figure etchings at National Arts Club; received Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation scholarship and met Ilya Bolotowsky and David McCosh
1936
Participates in First American Artists’ Congress. Joins the Artists’ Union.
1940
Founds Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, a splinter group from American Artists’ Congress (with Meyer Schapiro, Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, Ilya Bolotowsky, Bradley Walker Tomlin, David Smith, and others).
1941
Elected to executive board, Sculptors’ Guild (along with Chaim Gross, Robert Laurent and Hugo Robus).
1942
Awarded Fifth Purchase Prize, Artists for Victory exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1950
Joins “The Irascibles” in protest against juried painting exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Charter member, The Club.
1951
Commission: Façade sculpture, And the bush was not consumed . . . (commissioned with Adolph Gottlieb and Robert Motherwell) for B’nai Israel Synagogue, Millburn, New Jersey (Percival Goodman, architect).
1953
One of the American prize winners, International Sculpture Competition, “The Unknown Political Prisoner Monument,” Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
1954
Commission: light and candelabrum for Berlin Chapel, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts (Max Abramowitz, architect).
1957
Commission: two interior wall sculptures for Temple Anshe Chesed, Cleveland, Ohio (Percival Goodman, architect).
1965
Commission: sculpture for Commons Building, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
1966
Installs: Sculpture as Environment, in Ferber Lounge, Rutgers University (now installed at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University).
1968
Installs: Full Circle, at John F. Kennedy Federal Office Building, Government Center, Boston, Massachusetts (Walter Gropius, architect).
1969
Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship
1977–1978
Commission: 18-foot outdoor sculpture for City of Ottumwa, Iowa
1979
Awarded R. S. Reynolds Memorial Award for aluminum sculpture
1991
Died in North Egremont, Massachusetts

Exhibitions

2007
Landscape: Form and Thought, Waqas Wajahat in association with Ingrao Gallery, New York, May 3–July 14. Catalogue with text by Christopher Riopelle.
2005
Organic New York 1941–1949m Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, September 10–November 5. Catalogue with text by Robert C. Morgan.
2005
New York School: Another View, Opalka Gallery, The Sage Colleges, Albany, New York. Catalogue text by Ann Eden Gibson, et al.
2005
Surrealism USA, National Academy Museum, New York. Catalogue text by Isabelle Dervaux, Gerrit Lansing, Michael Duncan, Robert Lubar, Robert Hobbs, Scott Rothkopf.
2005
Grounded/Suspended: Herbert Ferber — Sculpture from the 1970s, Knoedler & Company. Catalogue text by Norman L. Kleeblatt, Susan and Elihu Rose Curator of Fine Arts, The Jewish Museum. (solo)
2004
My America: Art from the Jewish Museum Collection, 1900–1955, The Jewish Museum, New York.
2004
Herbert Ferber: Painting, Sculpture, and Drawing from the 1960s. Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. Catalogue text by Debra Bricker Balken. (solo)
2001–2003
Vital Forms: American Art and Design in the Atomic Age 1940–1960, Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York. Traveled to Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Frist Center for the Visual Arts; Phoenix Art Museum. Brooke Kamin Rapaport, curator.
2002
The Tiger’s Eye: The Art of a Magazine, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut. Catalogue text by Pamela Franks.
2002
Abstract Sculpture by American Artists 1920–1950, Robert Henry Adams Fine Art, Chicago, Illinois
2001
Herbert Ferber: Calligraph Emblem of Motion, Knoedler & Company. Catalogue text by Stephen Polcari. (solo)
2000
Herbert Ferber: Paintings, Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona. Catalogue text excerpted from an interview with Herbert Ferber by Irving Sandler. (solo)
2000
The American Century: Art & Culture 1900–2000; Part II, 1950–2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalogue text by Lisa Phillips.
1999
The American Century: Art & Culture 1900–2000; Part I, 1900–1950, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalogue text by Barbara Haskell.
1998
Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York (solo)
1988
Studio d’Arte Zanussi, Milan, Italy (solo)
1984
The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts (solo)
1981
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas [traveled] (solo)
1978
Knoedler & Company, New York (solo)
1972
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Sculpture Garden, New York (solo)
1972
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Sculpture Garden, New York (solo)
1970
Rutgers University Art Gallery, New Brunswick, New Jersey (solo)
1964
Robert Hull Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, Burlington (solo)
1962
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (solo)
1961
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (solo)
1958
Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont (solo)
1955
Samuel Kootz Gallery, New York (solo)
1947
Betty Parsons Gallery, New York (solo)
1937
Midtown Galleries, New York, NY (first one-man sculpture exhibition)
English (US)

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