(Janice) Biala (1904-2000) was born in a small village at the Russian-Polish border. She took the name of her birthplace (Biala) as her own after immigrating to the United State in 1913. Spending much of her
time in France during the twenties and thirties, Biala found a connection with the everyday things in Paris. She studied the art of Bonnard, Matisse, and Braque, whose work would forever inform her as an artist.
Biala's paintings capture the essence of a moment: the warmth of a lamp in an interior, the scent of a flower in a still life, and the noise of the streets in a cityscape. Biala exhibited her work publicly for the first
time at the Georgette Passedoit Gallery in New York City in 1936.

Daniel Brustlein (1904-1996) was born in the Alsatian town of Mulhouse. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and became a U.S. citizen in 1933. Brustlein was first recognized as an illustrator and later championed as a painter for his dramatic use of color. As an illustrator, he worked for many publications but most famously for The New Yorker where he signed his cartoons "Alain."

Biala and Brustlein married in 1943 and divided their time between Paris and New York, exhibiting extensively in both. At a time when both cities were brimming with artistic fervor, Biala and Brustlein retained a style all their own, using flat formal shapes, the figure, and deep saturated color despite the art world's growing fascination with abstraction.

"They (Biala and Brustlein) belonged to a trans-Atlantic tradition that included French painters like Matisse, Bonnard and Marquet, as well as (Americans) Milton Avery and Edward Hopper." Roberta Smith, The New York Times.

Biala & Brustlein: A Marriage in Art and Life opens on Tuesday, January 13, 2004, and will be on view through February 29, in the Elma and Milton A. Gilbert Pavilion. The show is open to the public daily from 10 am - 4 pm, free of charge. The Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale would like to thank the Kouros Gallery, Amy Wolf Fine Art, and the Estate of Biala and Daniel Brustlein for making this exhibition possible.

The Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale is a nonprofit, non-sectarian geriatric center serving 3,000 elderly persons through its resources and community service programs. Its nineteen-acre campus overlooks the Hudson River at 5901 Palisade Avenue in Riverdale. The Home is a member of the American Association of Museums. It houses an extensive collection of 20th century art and is committed to exhibiting contemporary and modern works of art for its residents, staff and friends in the community. The Home can be reached easily by public transportation or Metro North and is located just fifteen minutes from Manhattan. For further information regarding the exhibition or the Hebrew Home's art collection, contact the Curator's Department at (718) 581-1596.

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