Derfner Judaica Museum + The Art Collection at Hebrew Home at Riverdale will host an illustrated lecture by Susan Schwalb entitled Metalpoint Drawing in the 21st Century: A Practitioner’s Perspective – Forty Years in Metalpoint Drawing and Painting on Monday, March 20, 2:30 p.m. in the Biederman Library in the Stolz Pavilion, located on the main Hebrew Home at Riverdale campus at 5901 Palisade Avenue in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx. The event is free and open to the public. R.S.V.P. 718.581.1596 or [email protected]. Photo I.D. required for entrance.

Master metalpoint artist Susan Schwalb, whose work is currently on view at the Hebrew Home, will trace the history of this challenging discipline, discuss the evolution of her own career as a contemporary metalpoint artist and give a live demonstration of the technical process of drawing with metal.

Artworks that use the metalpoint technique are executed with a stylus that creates fine lines when applied to specially coated paper. Once a line is laid down, it cannot be erased or changed. The practice of metalpoint dates back to the Middle Ages for recordkeeping purposes. It was widely used during the Italian High Renaissance for drawing and technical drafting, employed by such artists as Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Fra Filippo Lippi (1406–1469) and Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449–1494).

Schwalb will discuss the evolution of her career in metalpoint, which began in 1974 after she encountered the medium via an artist friend. She first experimented with figurative subjects, such as flowers and landscapes, but quickly moved to more abstract works. Schwalb is considered one of the foremost figures in the contemporary practice of metalpoint and was one of three living artists, and the only woman, to be included in the major 2015 exhibition, Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns, which was mounted at the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), before traveling to The British Museum (London).

This program takes place in conjunction with the exhibition Susan Schwalb: Metalpoint Paintings currently on view in the Elma and Milton A. Gilbert Pavilion Lobby Gallery through May 14.

About Susan Schwalb
Susan Schwalb was born in New York City and studied at the High School of Music & Art, and at Carnegie-Mellon University. Schwalb has been in residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2010,’07, ‘92,’73), the MacDowell Colony (1989, ’75,’74), Yaddo (’81) and has had two residencies in Israel in 1994 at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, Jerusalem, and the Tel Aviv Artists’ Studios. She has had over 35 solo exhibitions and has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work is represented in most major public collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; The British Museum, London; the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Kupferstichkabinett—Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England.

About Hebrew Home at Riverdale
As a member of the American Alliance of Museums, Hebrew Home at Riverdale by RiverSpring Health is committed to publicly exhibiting its art collection throughout its 32-acre campus including the Derfner Judaica Museum and a sculpture garden overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades. The Derfner Judaica Museum + The Art Collection provides educational and cultural programming for residents of the Hebrew Home, their families, and the general public from throughout New York City, its surrounding suburbs, and visitors from elsewhere. RiverSpring Health is a nonprofit, non-sectarian geriatric organization serving more than 12,000 older adults in greater New York through its resources and community service programs. Museum hours: Sunday–Thursday, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Art Collection and grounds open daily, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Call 718.581.1596 for holiday hours and to schedule group tours, or for further information, visit our website at http://www.riverspringhealth.org/art

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.