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Die Plage has been exhibited six times. The first four exhibitions were curated by Harley Gaber between 1995 and 2000. As he continued creating new canvases, Gaber reimagined each installation to respond to new spaces and evolving themes within the work.
Growing interest in the work has led to two relatively recent exhibitions, one which opened in December 2022 in Portland, Oregon and another in February 2025 in Los Angeles. A new exhibition is set to open in New York City in January 2027 (see below).
Museums interested in staging new exhibitions will find vast opportunities in these 4,200 canvases. We welcome all inquiries.
Upcoming exhibition
January 2027, The New School, New York City, NY
This will be the first exhibition of the work in New York City, hosted by The New School together with the Parsons School of Design. Founded in 1919 as the University in Exile and later named The New School for Social Research, the university became a haven for scholars and intellectuals fleeing fascism in Europe, many of them Jewish. An exhibition of the work of Harley Gaber provides a particularly resonant setting for a work that examines the era of German history from which so many of those émigrés escaped.
Prior exhibitions
2025, Holocaust Museum LA, Los Angeles, CA
Holocaust Museum LA presented Die Plage for six months, beginning in February 2025. The exhibition marked the second public showing of any portion of the larger work since Harley Gaber’s death in 2011. (Die Plage had previously been exhibited in Los Angeles in September 2000.)
Curated by Melissa Yaverbaum, the exhibition expanded upon the 2022 presentation in Portland and included additional canvases depicting the 1936 Olympics, creating a thematic connection to the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The Epstein Family Foundation provided principal funding for the exhibition.
Read this review.
2022-23, Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, Portland, OR
Following his death in 2011, Gaber’s work remained largely unseen until Judy Margles, then executive director of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Studies in Portland, Oregon, took interest. She enlisted the expertise of curator Melissa Yaverbaum and, with funding support from the Epstein Family Foundation, organized an exhibition featuring 390 canvases that focused on the Holocaust years. The exhibit’s design and layout immersed visitors in Gaber’s work.
2000, Installation, The Laboratory, Los Angeles, CA
The fourth exhibition was installed in a large, repurposed retail space in downtown Los Angeles during a period of economic decline. Vacant storefronts were common throughout the area, but dedicated arts initiatives gave these spaces a new life. The building’s high ceilings and extensive wall space spanning hundreds of linear feet enabled Gaber to display nearly 1,000 canvases.
2000, Anne Frank Installation, Performing Art Center, Newport, OR
The third exhibition featured individual murals composed of 80 or 160 canvases each and stretching 27 or 54 feet in length. Gaber also included a number of standalone works exhibited in a row. As with his previous show at the Coastal Repertory Theatre, this exhibition accompanied a stage production of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and Gaber thus drew again from works depicting events from that period. Gaber was living in Newport at the time, and he appreciated the opportunity to exhibit his work close to home.
1997, Anne Frank Installation, Coastal Repertory Theatre, Half Moon Bay, CA
For the second exhibition, Gaber chose several hundred canvases from the approximately 2,000 he had completed. Since the exhibition was designed to accompany a stage production of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” he selected canvases depicting events between 1942 and 1945. Additionally, he created a music mix to play as background in the exhibit space next to the theater.
1995, Southwestern College, San Diego, CA
The first exhibition opened in a large gallery at a community college in San Diego, where Gaber lived and worked. He displayed approximately 600 canvases, stacking them five high to create a towering ten-foot wall of images. Gaber arranged each canvas as though composing music, positioning them like musical notes to reflect the same structure he applied to his compositions.
