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HANDBAGS BY JUDITH LEIBER AT NEWARK MUSEUM

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NEWARK, N.J. — For more than 30 years, a Judith Leiber handbag has represented the ultimate in craftsmanship and design. Leiber’s works are the subject of a new exhibition opening at The Newark Museum through February 27.

A comprehensive survey of the designer’s career and art, “Fashioning Art: Handbags by Judith Leiber” celebrates Leiber’s artistic achievement by showcasing her influence on nearly four decades of fashion. The exhibition features more than 170 of Leiber’s handbags and minaudieres (gilded metal evening bags).

The exhibition, organized by the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and sponsored by the Nef Fund series, includes a range of work, from the first beaded bag created in 1967, to more recent designs.

Leiber bags are inspired by a variety of sources, including Asian culture, nature, Hollywood and museum objects. Coveted by celebrities, socialites and collectors, they take on many forms, including fruits, vegetables, flowers and animals. Artists such as Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Gustav Klimt and Charles Rennis Mackintosh and periods of art such as Art Deco and Pop Art are represented.

Leiber’s creations use leather, antique fabrics and Swarovski crystals. Her bags, still hand beaded in the United States, usually take two years to design. Minaudieres are constructed out of cardboard, stamped in brass, gold plates and beaded. Every design is assembled with painstaking precision — each crystal is picked up with tweezers and individually glued onto the bag, where the design has already been outlined. One beaded bag can be encrusted with as many as 13,000 Swarovski crystals and can take up to five days to complete.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1921, Leiber was the first female apprentice and master in the Hungarian handbag guild. Eventually she and her husband, an American soldier, moved to the United States and founded their own company in 1963. Their first factory had four employees whom Leiber worked alongside, teaching them her expertise.

Judith Leiber bags are included in the collection of the Victorian and Albert Museum, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Houston Museum of Fine Arts; the Dallas Museum of Art; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The museum, at 49 Washington Street, is open Wednesdays through Fridays, noon to 5 pm and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 am to 5 pm. For information, 973-596-6550 or www.NewarkMuseum.org.