Born 1924, Manhattan, New York
Died 2011, Northampton, Massachusetts

Liebling studied briefly at Brooklyn College (1942) and then served in the armed forces in Europe and North Africa during World War II. After the war he returned to Brooklyn College to study art and design with the painter Ad Reinhardt and photography with Walter Rosenblum. In 1947 Liebling joined the Photo League, where he studied with Paul Strand and Sid Grossman. Over the next two years he showed his work in several group exhibitions and served as membership secretary on the League's executive committee. Liebling also studied motion-picture production at the New School for Social Research (1948) and made seven films: his first in 1951, Art and Seeing; and his last in 1993, Fast Eddie and the Boys. He taught photography and film at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (1949–69); SUNY, New Paltz (1957–58); Yale University (1976–77); and Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts (1969–90), where he founded the film, photography, and video program. The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1948, 1963); George Eastman House, Rochester (1957); and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC (1980); Smith College Museum of Art (2008); the Yale University Art Gallery (2008); and the Currier Museum of Art, New Hampshire (2011) have all presented solo exhibitions of his work. Liebling was the recipient of the New Talent USA Award (1956), two Guggenheim Foundation grants (1977, 1981), and a fellowship from the Massachusetts Council of Arts (1984). In 2006 the Museum of Television and Radio in New York (now the Paley Center for Media) paid tribute to his work as a filmmaker.