Weber is considered one of America's earliest modernists, and his long career witnessed many stylistic changes. Through the 1920s his work paid homage to such European artists as Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Rousseau as well as to tribal African art. After 1930, when he developed a consistently identifiable style, one that was lyrical and Expressionistic, his imagery focused on romanticized landscapes, docile domestic scenes, and emotional religious themes. Throughout his career Weber exhibited consistently at galleries and museums, and in 1930 he was honored with a retrospective at the recently opened Museum of Modern Art.
From 1914 to 1918 Weber taught classes in art history, art appreciation, and design at the Clarence H. White School of Photography in New York. The experience of sitting in a darkened auditorium during a slide talk is amply conveyed in this pastel, about which he wrote: "A lecture on Giotto was given at the Metropolitan Museum. The late hastening visitor finds himself in an interior of plum-colored darkness . . . upon which one discerns the focusing spray-like yellowish-white light, the concentric, circular rows of seats, [and] a portion of the screen." In other paintings and drawings of the period, he evoked the illuminated stages at music and dance performances and the shimmering screens of the cinema. In a 1915 newspaper article he stated that his aim at the time was to express "not what I see with my eye but with my consciousness . . . mental impressions, not mere literal matter-of-fact copying of line and form. I want to put the abstract into concrete terms."
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Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): Max Weber 1916
the artist, Great Neck, N.Y. (1916–d. 1961; on consignment to A. P. Rosenberg & Co., New York, in 1949; his estate, 1961; in 1961 to Downtown Gallery); [Downtown Gallery, New York, 1961–65; sold on March 25, 1965 to Burton]; Dr. Irving F. Burton, Huntington Woods, Mich. (1965–75; his gift to MMA)
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Max Weber: Retrospective Exhibition, 1907–1930," March 13–April 2, 1930, no. 42 (as "Lecture, Metropolitan Museum," 1916; lent by the artist).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Abstract Painting in America," February 12–March 22, 1935, no. 124 (as "Lecture at Metropolitan Museum," lent by the artist).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Max Weber Retrospective Exhibition," February 5–March 27, 1949, no. 91 (as "Lecture, Metropolitan Museum," lent by the artist, courtesy of A. P. Rosenberg & Co., Inc.).
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Max Weber Retrospective Exhibition," April 17–May 29, 1949, no. 91.
San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. "Max Weber Retrospective Exhibition," June–August 1949, no catalogue.
Duluth. Tweed Gallery, University of Minnesota. "A Restrospective Exhibition of the Works of Max Weber," May 2–25, 1951, brochure no. 5 (as "Lecture at Metropolitan Museum").
Newark Museum. "Max Weber Retrospective Exhibition," October 1–November 15, 1959, no. 8 (as "Lecture at the Metropolitan," lent by The Downtown Gallery).
New York. American Academy of Arts and Letters. "Max Weber 1881–1961, Memorial Exhibition: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture," January 19–February 18, 1962, no. 3 (as "Lecture at the Metropolitan Museum," lent courtesy of the Downtown Gallery, New York).
Boston University Art Gallery. "Max Weber 1881–1961, Memorial Exhibition: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture," March 10–31, 1962, no. 3.
Iowa City. The New Gallery, Department of Art, University of Iowa. "Vintage Moderns. American Pioneer Artists: 1903–1932 Plus 4 Related Photographers," May 24–August 2, 1962, no. 71 (as "Lecture at the Metropolitan," lent by the Downtown Gallery).
New York. Downtown Gallery. "New York City: Paintings 1913–1963 by American Artists," May 12–June 5, 1964, no. 37 (as "Lecture, Metropolitan Museum").
University of California, Santa Barbara. "First Comprehensive Retrospective Exhibition in the West of Oils, Gouaches, Pastels, Drawings, and Graphic Works by Max Weber (1881–1961)," February 6–March 3, 1968, no. 11 (as "Lecture at the Metropolitan Museum," lent by Dr. and Mrs. Irving F. Burton).
San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. "First Comprehensive Retrospective Exhibition in the West of Oils, Gouaches, Pastels, Drawings, and Graphic Works by Max Weber (1881–1961)," April 19–May 19, 1968, no. 11.
Phoenix Museum of Art. "First Comprehensive Retrospective Exhibition in the West of Oils, Gouaches, Pastels, Drawings, and Graphic Works by Max Weber (1881–1961)," May 28–June 25, 1968, no. 11.
Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego. "First Comprehensive Retrospective Exhibition in the West of Oils, Gouaches, Pastels, Drawings, and Graphic Works by Max Weber (1881–1961)," July 5–August 18, 1968, no. 11.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Selections from the Collections of the Friends of Modern Art," May 15–June 22, 1969, no. 195 (lent by Dr. and Mrs. Irving F. Burton).
Jewish Museum, New York. "Max Weber: American Modern," October 5, 1982–January 16, 1983, no. 109 (as "Lecture at the Metropolitan Museum").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Pastels in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1880–1930," October 17, 1989–January 14, 1990, extended to February 18, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 126).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "14 Americans," July 16, 1990–January 2, 1991, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Max Weber from the Collection," March 9–June 13, 1999, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Drawings (1900–1950): Selections from the Permanent Collection," October 25, 2005–April 23, 2006, no catalogue.
Alfred H. Barr Jr. inMax Weber Retrospective Exhibition 1907–1930. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1930, p. 11, no. 42, ill.
Max Weber inMax Weber Retrospective Exhibition 1907–1930. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1930, p. 18, describes his experience attending a lecture on Giotto at MMA.
Elizabeth Luther Cary. "Moderns on the Avenue—Canadians at Capital: The Two Poles of Art; Max Weber, Paul Klee, Aristide Maillol and Lehmbruck at Museum of Modern Art." New York Times (March 16, 1930), ill. p. XX18, calls it "Lecture, Metropolitan Museum".
"Paintings in Current Exhibit at Montclair Art Museum." Montclair Times (April 22, 1931), p. 14, calls it "Lecture, Metropolitan Museum".
Forbes Watson. "The Innocent Bystander." American Magazine of Art 28 (March 1935), p. 169, calls it "Lecture at Metropolitan Museum".
American Artists Group, ed. Max Weber. New York, 1945, ill. n.p. (courtesy Paul Rosenberg & Co.), calls it "Lecture Metropolitan Museum," 1917.
Ala Story inFirst Comprehensive Retrospective Exhibition in the West of Oils, Gouaches, Pastels, Drawings, and Graphic Works by Max Weber (1881–1961). Exh. cat., Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara, 1968, pp. 15, 28, pl. 11.
Henry J. Seldis. "Art: Max Weber Show in Channel City." Los Angeles Times (February 18, 1968), p. 46.
Alfred Werner. Max Weber. New York, 1975, p. 50, colorpl. 20, calls it "Lecture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art" in the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Irving F. Burton, Huntington Woods, Mich.
John R. Lane inThe Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection. Exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum. New York, 1981, p. 53, calls it "Lecture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art".
Percy North. Max Weber: American Modern. Exh. cat., Jewish Museum. New York, 1982, pp. 30, 92, no. 109, ill.
Sanford Schwartz. The Art Presence. New York, 1982, p. 83, calls it "Lecture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art".
Gail Stavitsky inAmerican Pastels in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, pp. 127–29, fig. 41 (detail) and ill. pp. 126, 224 (color and bw), calls it "Lecture at the Metropolitan".
Marjorie Shelley inAmerican Pastels in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, p. 42.
Polyxeni Potter. "The Only Emperor is the Emperor of Ice-cream." Emerging Infectious Diseases 17 (June 2011), p. 1157.
Kaveh Askari. ""Picture Craft, Visual Education, and the Lantern: A Lecture Fantasy"." Beyond the Screen: Institutions, Networks and Publics of Early Cinema. Bloomington, Ind., 2016, pp. 207–212, fig. 1.
Max Weber (American (born Russia), Bialystok 1881–1961 Great Neck, New York)
1920
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