May 20, 2019 10:51 AM

Judith Leiber was a celebrated handbag designer who created handbags for nearly all the First Ladies from 1953 onward as well as for Academy Award, Grammy Award, and Emmy Award nominees. Her handbags are considered such unique works of art that 80 bags are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many others are in the Corcoran Galleries, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and numerous regional museums around the United States.

Her husband, Gerson Leiber, was a critically acclaimed modernist artist, who produced an impressive oeuvre of paintings, drawings, etchings, and lithographs, many of which are in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art, and many more. Ms. Lieber died April 28, 2018, and her husband died just hours before her.

The couple lived in Springs and in 2005, built a gallery to house their works of art and to chronicle their careers, offering an unparalleled retrospective of their creations over the past many decades. The Leiber Collection is housed in a Renaissance-style, Palladian museum in Springs. On display inside are more than 500 artful Judith Leiber handbags and magnificent abstract garden paintings by Gerson Leiber, and on May 25, a celebratory garden tea party opening will be held there from 2 to 5 p.m. All are invited to attend. The building sits amidst seven acres of gardens, each one individually designed by Mr. Leiber.

The museum and the gardens are open free to visitors from 1 to 4 p.m. every Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Thousands of people have come to East Hampton and visited the Leiber Collection as their point of destination. The Leiber Collection is located at 446 Old Stone Highway in Springs, East Hampton. For information, visit leibercollection.org.