Max Weber was described as “the artist best known for bringing European Modernism to America” by Art historian Celeste Connor in her writings. Her Essays on Art (1916) inspired generations of American artists and were instrumental in spreading Modern aesthetic theory.  Weber became a highly visible and active member of the New York art scene early in his career, and remained so for the rest of his life. Born in Russia, Max Weber immigrated to New York at the age of ten. His formative years were spent in Paris, where he met and studied under such notables as Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso, and Henri Rousseau.  During this time he was exposed to groundbreaking ideas and theories on art that transformed the way he represented visual reality. In addition to Matisse, Weber was also profoundly influenced by Cézanne and his theories regarding the visual relationship of forms, flattened space, and depicting traditional subject matter in a modern way.  In 1910, after four years of study in Paris, Weber brought European Modernism to America and made it his own. By injecting wild, Fauvist color into cubism, he created a distinct new form.  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.  Even late in his career, Weber’s mode of portraiture—as seen in the work, Portrait—shows a continuing preoccupation with reworking Cubist ideas to invent a novel hybrid. 

Weber’s work is included in the permanent collection of the 

Art Institute of Chicago
Harvard Art Museums
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Modern Art
National Gallery of Art
Phillips Collection
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art
among others.