SONJA EISENBERG'S "AUTUMN" OPENS OCTOBER 5 AT LEONARD TOURNÉ GALLERY

Leonard Tourné Gallery and Spoon present Autumn, the second in a two part exhibition of the work of painter and Holocaust survivor Sonja Eisenberg. Trained in music and dance at the Juilliard School of Performing Arts, Sonja Eisenberg is a true virtuoso; translating the unparalleled depth of her personal experience into the movement, space, and color of seductively intimate watercolors, delicate yet commanding pastel compositions, and compelling large scale oil works, Eisenberg reminds the viewer of the dynamics of the sublime, and even what is to paint.

Within her gesture there is no falsity; Eisenberg calls herself up to the vocation of painting with the sincerity only an autodidact can know. Unsullied by the artificial posturing of official art discourse, the artist unsurprisingly claims the thought of Lao Tzu in a Taoist philosophy of simplicity, and the self-evident consistency of the natural world as inspiration for her work. Yet, there is nothing primitive here; displaying a sophisticated and instinctual comprehension of composition, each tableau is no less than a triumph, serene yet unbound, passion with consilience.

Born in Berlin in 1926, Sonja Eisenberg lives and works in New York. Eisenberg’s work is represented in the Smithsonian Institute (Washington, D.C.), the Jewish Museum of Art (New York), the official collection of the United Nations (New York), and dozens of additional public and private collections. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including notable exhibitions in London, Tel Aviv, France, and her native Germany.

The exhibition will be on view at Leonard Tourné Gallery, located at 463 Broome Street (between Greene and Mercer streets) in New York City, from October 5-November 5, 2012. It was curated in partnership with Brooke Lynn McGowan.