Willem De Kooning: Reflections in the Studio

A uniquely intimate portrayal of Willem and Elaine de Kooning that corrects and enriches many myths about the artists, and re-examines the Abstract Expressionist movement.

Edvard Lieber has appeared on three continents as a concert pianist, composer, and guest artist on numerous radio and television broadcasts; contemporaneously, from 1976-1982 he was a cinematographer on six European feature films. In 1983, he withdrew from the concert stage to create works in multiple art forms. His first independent film, Seven Portraits (1983, Willem de Kooning, Leonard Bernstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Tennessee Williams, Andy Warhol, John Cage, Liv Ullmann) was featured in seven international film festivals, including the 1984 Berlin International Film Festival, 1984 São Paulo International Film Festival, and 1985 Taipei International Film Festival. 
 
He was Willem de Kooning's secretary and curator from 1987-89, and co-executor of Elaine de Kooning's estate. Willem de Kooning: Reflections in the Studio (Harry N. Abrams, 2000), a souvenir of their friendship, featured the de Koonings' own words with ninety-eight of Lieber's photographs, including the last professional photographs of Willem de Kooning at work. Music to Paintings, the CD released in 1996 by Concord Concerto, comprises all of Lieber's musical compositions inspired by contemporary paintings. As an educator, he created and taught two interdisciplinary courses correlating nine art forms with music as the cohesive element, at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, from 1978-2008.