Alice Baber

Key facts

Lived

1928–1982, American^[1]

Movement

• Abstract Expressionism

^[1]

Works held in

10 museums

Wikipedia

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• What is Alice Baber known for?+

  Alice Baber is known for her paintings featuring translucent, luminous colour and recurring circular forms. She also curated the 1975^[1] exhibition "Color, Light and Image" at the Women's Interart Center in New York, which included work by 125 women artists.
• What should I know about Alice Baber's prints?+

  Alice Baber created prints using varied methods. Printmaking is an unregulated activity, so the artist determines the size of an edition, not the medium. An edition is defined by a written claim, typically in pencil in the bottom margin of the print. This claim includes a print number and the edition number (for example, 12/25 means it is print number 12 of an edition of 25). The title appears in the centre, and the signature on the right. These conventions are widely respected, and add value. Since 1982^[1], the Professional Art Dealers Association of Canada (PADAC) defines an original print as conceived and executed solely as a print, usually in a numbered edition, and signed by the artist. Each print is an original, printed individually from a plate, stone, screen or block. Reproductions are copies of works of art conceived in another medium, and made by photomechanical means. Numbering and signing a reproduction does not make it an original.
• What style or movement did Alice Baber belong to?+

  Alice Baber (1928^[1]-1982^[1]) is associated with Abstract Expressionism^[1], an American^[1] avant-garde movement that emerged in New York in the 1940s; it is sometimes called the New York School. The critic Robert Coates coined the term "Abstract Expressionism" in 1946^[1]. Abstract Expressionists shared a similar outlook, characterised by a spirit of revolt and a belief in freedom of expression. They produced paintings that are mostly abstract but express the artist’s state of mind. These artists also intended to strike emotional chords in the viewer. They tried to broaden their artistic processes to express what Carl Jung called the collective unconscious. To do so, many adopted Surrealist improvisation methods, such as “psychic automatism”, and used their creative minds as open channels for unconscious forces to make themselves visible. The Abstract Expressionist movement developed along two lines: gestural abstraction and chromatic abstraction. The gestural abstractionists relied on the expressiveness of energetically applied pigment. In contrast, the chromatic abstractionists focused on colour’s emotional resonance.
• What was Alice Baber known for?+

  Alice Baber (1928^[1]-1982^[1]) was an American^[1] Abstract Expressionist painter associated with the New York School. This artistic circle, which also included Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, emerged in the 1940s. It was the first American art movement to gain international recognition. Abstract Expressionism^[1] included both men and women artists. However, the women often received less critical attention during a sexist period. Despite this marginalisation, female Abstract Expressionists created bold works using a range of materials expressively, often dispensing with preparatory drawings. They created gestural marks and shapes intuitively, fueled by their subconscious minds. Baber's work fits within the chromatic abstractionist strand of Abstract Expressionism. This style prioritises colour's emotional resonance. Other artists working in this vein include Mark Rothko.
• When did Alice Baber live and work?+

  Alice Baber was an American^[1] abstract expressionist painter born in Charleston, Illinois, in 1928^[1]. She spent much of her life travelling and working both in the United States and in Europe. Baber studied art at Lindenwood College in St Charles, Missouri, and later at Indiana University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951^[1] and a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1952. She then moved to New York City, where she became part of the art scene, exhibiting at the March Gallery and later at the Martha Jackson Gallery. In the 1960s, Baber spent time in Paris and travelled extensively throughout Europe, which influenced her art. She was known for her use of colour and light, creating abstract works that often evoked a sense of movement and space. Her paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. Alice Baber died in 1982^[1] in New York City.
• Where can I see Alice Baber's work?+

  Many museums hold examples of fine art and textiles that may include Alice Baber's work. These include institutions in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, you can find relevant collections at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American^[1] Art (Winter Park, Florida), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Minneapolis), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond), and the Wolfsonian at Florida International University (Miami Beach). In Canada, consider the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto) and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Halifax). In the United Kingdom, visit the Bakelite Museum (Williton), the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery (Brighton), the Geffrye Museum (London), the Manchester Art Gallery (Manchester), the National Museums of Scotland Royal Museum (Edinburgh), the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), the Fashion and Textile Museum (London), the British Museum (London), the Museum of London, the National Gallery (London), the National Portrait Gallery (London), the Royal Academy (London), the Whitworth Art Gallery (Manchester), the Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park (Warwickshire), the London Transport Museum (London), the Postal Museum (London), the Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery (Kent), and the Museum of Art + Craft (Ditchling, East Sussex).
• Who did Alice Baber influence?+

  It is difficult to identify specific artists who were directly influenced by Alice Baber. Art history texts do not often frame her as a central influence on other artists. However, the broader artistic context in which she worked can provide some clues. Baber's career coincided with the rise of Abstract Expressionism^[1] and Pop Art. These movements saw artists move away from traditional representation. Some artists reduced the amount, physical quality and content of their output. Others embraced what they saw as the honour of a vacuum, filling canvases to saturation with pigment and heavyweight ideas. Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis pioneered the use of acrylics and techniques of soaking washes of diluted paint into the canvas. Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol began to change the look of American^[1] painting by choosing imagery from the most obvious visual aspects of American popular culture.
• Who influenced Alice Baber?+

  Paul Klee, Joan Miró, and Wassily Kandinsky are artists who inspired Alice Baber. Klee, in particular, had a transcendentalist philosophy rooted in English and German Romanticism, Immanuel Kant, and German Idealism. He believed individuals thrive when independent and that the visual world is just one of multiple realities. Klee aimed to create his own style, free from preconceptions and artistic categorisation. He taught Annelise Else Frieda Fleischmann (later known as Anni Albers) at the Bauhaus from 1922. Albers considered Klee a superlative genius, especially for his ability to combine abstract and geometric elements with natural and organic forms. Anni Albers, who later combined hand-weaving with modern art ideas, was also close to Kandinsky.
• Who was Alice Baber?+

  Alice Baber (1928^[1]-1982^[1]) was an American^[1] abstract expressionist painter, associated with the second generation of this movement. Born in Charleston, Illinois, Baber studied art at Tudor Hall in Indianapolis, then at Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri, where she gained a BA in 1950^[1]. She also studied in Greece and France, before settling in New York City. Baber is known for her colourful, lyrical abstractions, often characterised by translucent washes of colour and biomorphic forms. Her paintings evoke a sense of light and movement, reflecting her interest in nature and spirituality. She was influenced by the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Joan Miró. Baber exhibited extensively in the United States and Europe. She had solo exhibitions at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York and the Galerie Stadler in Paris. Her work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
• Why are Alice Baber's works important today?+

  Alice Baber (1928^[1]-1982^[1]) was an American^[1] abstract expressionist painter associated with the second generation of the New York School. Her work has gained increased attention in recent years, as have the oeuvres of other women artists from that period such as Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, and Grace Hartigan. Abstract expressionism was once considered a beacon of freedom and a prime factor in the construction of a post-war identity for American art. However, the contributions of women artists were often overlooked in favour of their male counterparts such as Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, and Willem de Kooning. There is renewed activity on the part of commercial galleries, many taking on the estates of major but less visible mid-twentieth-century women painters, whose market value has been enhanced by feminist interpretation and agitation for their inclusion in the official histories of art. Baber's works, with their distinctive style and colour palettes, add to a fuller understanding of the abstract expressionist movement.
• What was Alice Baber's art style?+

  Alice Baber's art style is characterised by translucent, luminous colour and recurring circular forms. Her work in oil and watercolour seemed to hold and release light simultaneously.
• When was Alice Baber born?+

  Alice Baber was born in 1928^[1]. Alice Baber died in 1982^[1], aged 54.