Alice Baber

Alice Baber was an American painter working in oil and watercolour who, as a dedicated feminist, organised exhibitions of female artists. Baber was also active as a teacher and lecturer on painting, design, and art history, as well as pursuing a career as a writer and editor.

Working within the colour field (a style of abstract painting characterised primarily by large fields of flat, solid colour spread across the support, creating areas of unbroken surface and a flat picture plane. The movement places less emphasis on gesture, brushstrokes and action in favour of an overall consistency of form and process where ‘colour is freed from objective context and becomes the subject in itself’) tradition of abstract expressionism, Baber produced paintings of radiant luminosity in motion, expressing energies of colour-infused air and wind in limitless infinite space. To Baber, abstract painting was ‘outer space’, and she stated in a 1973 interview (oral history interview with Alice Baber, conducted by Paul Cummings, May 24, 1973, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.) that, in front of an abstract painting, ‘there is a sense of infinity.’ Her paintings, which made frequent use of watered-down oil and acrylic paint, aimed to express light’s ethereal quality, creating a sense of spiritual displacement within the viewer —as if we, too, could dissolve into the painting’s atmosphere.

Baber grew up in Kansas, Illinois and Miami, Florida — the latter being where her family, on a doctor’s advice, spent the winter months, due to Baber’s poor health (starting when she was two years old). Therecurring change of scenery would have a defining impact on her later art, and, as pointed out by Sylvia Moore (in North American women artists of the twentieth century: a biographical dictionary, 1995), ‘The abstract oils and watercolors of her maturity reflect both clear Midwestern light and the lush colors of the semitropics.’ Baber herself remembered her childhood as being ‘in color.’

Baber was interested in becoming an artist from an early age and later claimed that, around age five, she decided she would either be a ‘poet or painter’. Aged eight, she subsequently studied drawing and by the age of twelve had become ‘so advanced she was enrolled in a college-level class’.

In 1946, Baber enrolled in Lindenwood College (now Lindenwood University), in St Charles, Missouri, which was then a women’s college. There she majored in art, studying with Elizabeth Watts, who instilled in her an appreciation of modern art. Encouraged by Watts—the only art instructor at Lindenwood—Baber transferred in 1948 to the University of Indiana, Bloomington (majoring in painting and journalism). At the university, her most influential teacher was the figurative expressionist Alton Pickens (1917-1991, American painter, printmaker, and instructor who taught art at Indiana University and Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York). After receiving her B.A., she went on to obtain her M.A. degree from the university in 1951, after which she travelled through Europe, studying briefly at the legendary École des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau, France.

At the insistence of her professor at Indiana University, Alton Pickens, Baber moved to New York, where she earned a living by writing, eventually becoming art editor of McCall’s (a monthly American women’s magazine that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s). Once in New York, Baber became a key mover in multiple art scenes, becoming a founding member of the Tenth Street co-operative March Gallery, where she had her first solo exhibition in 1958. That same year she also completed a residency at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs. Art historian Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., writes:

She moved to Manhattan, settling at first in the Chelsea Hotel and supporting herself by producing publicity about home furnishings. (Eventually she became an art editor at McCalls magazine.) In New York, she took drawing classes at the Art Students League and visited museums, especially the Metropolitan. She also took an active role in the downtown art scene, where she became part of The Club (begun in 1949), an informal salon for avant-garde artists, in which performances, panel discussions, and exhibitions were held in a variety of downtown studios.

During this period Baber also began living in Paris for six months each year. Upon moving to Paris, she joined a group of North American painters including, Sam Francis (1923–1994, American painter and printmaker) and her future husband, Paul Jenkins (1923-2012, American abstract expressionist painter).

In 1959 Baber was selected to exhibit in the first ‘Jeune Biennale’ by the director of the American Cultural Center in Paris. Over the next few years her paintings were also shown in London, Edinburgh and Hamburg. This led to exhibitions at the A. M. Sachs Gallery, on 57th Street, New York (where solo shows of her work were mounted in 1965, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, and 1978), and participation in notable shows like Women Choose Women at New York City’s Women’s Interart Center in 1973. The show featured Baber alongside names like Judy Chicago (born 1939, American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history and culture) and Alice Neel (1900-1984 American painter considered one of the greatest American portraitists of the 20th century).

On June 16, 1964, Baber married Paul Jenkins in New Haven, Connecticut. Later that year both became artists-in-residence at the Gutai Pinacotheca, a newly established museum space in Osaka, Japan, where they showed their work in a joint exhibition. The artists travelled in Japan as well as in India and Tibet. Together they collected affordable art and artefacts in the places they visited. Objects that would inspire Baber in her own work. Their marriage ended in 1968, and subsequently Baber made New York her home base.

Baber’s work featured in many women-only exhibitions, and as an active feminist, she curated the 1975 exhibition Color, Light and Image, bringing together works by female artists from Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States, held to mark the United Nations’ ‘International Women’s Year’. Another exhibition curated by Baber was the 1972 exhibition Color Forum at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas, for which she wrote a lyrical essay on the theme of colour.

In 1976, Baber embarked on a four-month lecture and exhibition tour of 13 Latin American countries, sponsored by the United States Information Agency. Baber supported herself with writing and teaching throughout her career, not only working as an art editor for the women’s magazine McCall’s but also serving as an artist-in-residence at the University of New Mexico’s Tamarind Institute and teaching painting at The New School, University of California, Santa Barbara, California and University of California, Berkeley, California.

Towards the end of her life, despite pain and debilitation from cancer, Baber continued to paint and produced a group of small luminous watercolours in prismatic colours. Alice Baber died on 2 October 1982. She was interred in Fairview Cemetery in Edgar County, Illinois, U.S.A.

Despite a life cut short by cancer at age 54, Baber achieved considerable acclaim by exhibiting, teaching, curating, and writing across the world, or, as art historian Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., puts it:’ Baber packed a tremendous amount of achievement into a life cut too short when she died from cancer in 1982 at age fifty-four.’

The Alice Baber Memorial Art Library in East Hampton, New York, and the Baber Midwest Modern Art Collection of the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art in Indiana are both named in her honour, and

Baber’s work is held in over forty prestigious international museum collections, spanning Europe and the Americas. Baber is also widely collected by private, corporate and university collections.

Alice Baber’s work is represented in the following international collections: Albertina Museum, Vienna; American Warranty Corporation, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.; Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A.; Art for American Embassies, U.S. Department of State, U.S.A.; Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.A.; Avon Corporation; BAMPFA, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.; Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Calcutta, India; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.A.; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas, U.S.A.; Broad Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, U.S.A.; Centro Colombo Americano, Bogotá; CIBA-Geigy Corporation, New York, New York, U.S.A.; Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, U.S.A.; Cremona Foundation Collection and Archive, Mechanicsville, Maryland, U.S.A.; David Owsley Museum of Art, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, U.S.A.; FAMSF, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; Fordham University, New York, New York, U.S.A.; Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, U.S.A.; Grey Art Museum, New York University, New York, New York, U.S.A.; Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, U.S.A.; Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A.; Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel; Kenton Corporation; Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany; Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, U.S.A.; Manchester Museum, Manchester, United Kingdom; Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, U.S.A.; Marinotti Collection, Italy; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, U.S.A.; Michener Collection, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, U.S.A.; Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, Massachusetts, U.S.A.; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá; MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, U.S.A.; National Art Gallery, San Salvador; National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; Newark Museum of Art, Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A.; New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, U.S.A.; Peter Stuyvesant Collection, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A.; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S.A.; Roy R. Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, Purchase, New York, U.S.A.; SFMOMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A.; Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York, U.S.A.; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.A.; The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.A.; U.S. Embassy, Madrid; U.S. Embassy, New Delhi; U.S. Embassy National Loan Program in Africa, Europe, Asia and Latin America; United Tanker Ltd., New York, New York, U.S.A.; University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S.A.; Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.A.; White House Loan Collection, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, U.S.A.; Worcester Museum of Art, Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.A. and Wright Museum of Art, Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Over the years Alice Baber has shown her work in the following (selected) solo exhibitions: Baber, March Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1958); Alice Baber peintures, Galerie de la Librairie Anglaise, Paris (1963); Alice Baber, New Vision Art Centre, London (1963); Pinacotheca Museum, Osaka, Japan (1964); Mulvane Art Center and Washburn Gallery, Topeka, Kansas, U.S.A. (1965); A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1965); A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1966); Kunstverein Museum, Cologne, West Germany (1966); Bernard M. Baruch College, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1968); Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, U.S.A. (1968); A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1969); Galerie Lambert, Paris (1970); University Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, U.S.A. (1971); A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1971); Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Hamburg, West Germany (1971); Tom Bortolazzo Gallery, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A. (1972); Ingber Gallery, White Plains, New York, U.S.A. (1973); A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1973); Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, Long Island, New York, U.S.A. (1973); Iran-American Society, Tehran (1974); Gallery Chanakya, New Delhi (1974); Euro Kunstgalerie, Saarbrucken, West Germany (1974); Rathaus at Benrath, Dusseldorf, West Germany (1974); A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A (1975); American Library, Brussels (1975); University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.A. (1975); Palm Beach Galleries, Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A. (1975); Lowe Gallery, University of Syracuse, New York, U.S.A. (1975); McNay Institute, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A. (1976); University Art Gallery, Kansas State University, Kansas (1976); California Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A. (1976); William Sawyer Gallery, San Francisco, California, U.S.A. (1976); Arvil Gallery, Mexico City (1976); Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A. (1976); Centro de Arte Moderno, Guadalajara, Mexico (1977); Centro Colombo Americano, Bogota (1977); Palm Beach Galleries, Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A. (1977); A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1977); Henri Gallery, Washington D.C. (1977); Color, Light, and Image, St. Mary’s College of Maryland Gallery, St. Mary’s City, Maryland, U.S.A. (1977) A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1978); National Museum, El Salvador (1978); Kunst-Galerie, Switzerland (1978); Allen House Galleries, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. (1978); Frances Aronson Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. (1978); The Art Package Ltd, Highland Park, Illinois, U.S.A. (1978); Niagara University, Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.A. (1979); The Art Package Ltd., Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. (1979); Gallery West, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. (1980); Galerie de’l Arte Nueva, Lima (1980); Amerika Haus, Frankfurt, West Germany (1980); Lillian Heidenberg Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1981); Aquarelles & Lithographies, Musee d’Arte Haitien, College St. Pierre, Port-au-Prince (1982); The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S.A. (1982); George Fall Gallery, Paris (1982); Phoenix II, Washington, D.C. (1982); A Journey of Light and Color, The American Centre, Port-of-Spain (1983); Alice Baber: A Retrospective Exhibition, Edgar Country Bicentennial Art Center and Museum, Paris, Illinois, U.S.A. (1983); Alice Baber: Luz Y Color, Galeria de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo (1983); Watercolours and Lithographs, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston (1983); Benefit Sale of Paintings, Watercolors and Graphics by Alice Baber, Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York, U.S.A. (1983); Alice Baber: Color Hunger, Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.A. (2019) and Alice Baber: Reverse Infinity, Berry Campbell, New York, New York, U.S.A. (2024).

Alice Baber’s work have also been included in the following (selected) group exhibitions: Annual, Stable Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1957); GEDOK, Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Hamburg, West Germany (1961); Artists under 35, Deuxieme Biennale de Paris, Paris (1961); Jeune Bienale, France (1961); Modern American Painting, American Embassy, London (1961); Modern American Painting, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom (1962); Les Surindependents, Musee de la Ville de Paris, Paris (1962); 4 Man Show, Karl Flinker Gallery, Paris (1962); International Graphics, New Vision Centre Gallery, London (1963); Artists from New Vision Centre Gallery, Galerie Wirth Berlin, Berlin (1964); 2-Man Show with Gutai Group, Pinacotheca Museum, Osaka, Japan (1964); New Acquisitions, Worchester Museum of Art, Massachusetts, U.S.A. (1964); Art in Industry, Peter Stuyvesant Collection, Netherlands (1964); Art, Ambassador’s Residence, United States Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, Geneva, Switzerland (1965); Art for Christmas, A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A.(1965); Selected Painters, Mulvane Art Center and Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, U.S.A. (1965); Trends, Museum show, Manchester, United Kingdom (1965); Art in Industry, Peter Stuyvesant Collection, Netherlands (1966); Kunstverein, Cologne, West Germany (1966); American Embassy, USIS, Paris (1966); International Graphics, New Vision Centre, London (1966); W.I.A.C. Exhibition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1966); Musee des Arts Decoratifs (Louvre), Paris (1966); Le Havre International Exhibition, Maison de la Culture de Havre, France (1966-1967); Looking Backward over 25 Years, Sheldon Swope Art Gallery, Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.A. (1967); Third Kent Invitational, Kent State University, Ohio, U.S.A. (1968); Eisenstadt Schloss, Austria, (1969); Amerika Haus, Vienna (1970); Whitney Annual, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1970); Trends in 20th Century Art, The Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A. (1970); A New Consciousness: The CIBA-Geigy Collection, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, U.S.A. (1971); Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Gedok, in Hamburg, Hamburg, West Germany (1971);Ala Story Collection, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A. (1971); Art in Industry, Tarmac Collection, travelled to Europe and Canada, (1971); Die Amerikanische Malerei, Amerika Haus, Berlin (1972); Die Amerikanische Malerei, Hamburg, West Germany (1972); Contemporary American Painting, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. (1972); Color Forum (curated by Alice Baber), Huntington Galleries, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, U.S.A. (1972); Color, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1972); National Invitational Exhibition: Women in the Arts, Center for 20th Century Studies and Fine Arts, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. (1972); Women’s Exhibition, Stanford Museum, Stanford, Connecticut, U.S.A. (1972); Painting and Sculpture, Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York, U.S.A. (1972); Women in the Arts, Inger Gallery, Stanford, Connecticut, U.S.A. (1972); Artists in Residence – Six One Man Shows, Brandeis University Libraries, New Jersey, U.S.A. (1973); IX Painters, IX Styles, Lowenstein Library Gallery (Fordham University at Lincoln Center), New York, U.S.A. (1973); Women Choose Women, New York Cultural Center, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1973); Works on Paper, New York Cultural Center, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1973); Works by Women, New York Cultural Center, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1973); Graduate Center of City University (1973); CUNY Graduate Center Mall, New York, U.S.A. (1973); The Harold and May Rosenberg Collection, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, U.S.A. (1973); Works from the CIBA-Geigy Collection by 46 Women Artists, Kresge Art Center Gallery, East Lansing, Michigan, U.S.A. (1974); Works on Paper from the CIBA-GEIGY Collection, Summit Art Center, New Jersey, U.S.A (1974); 118 artists, Landmark Gallery, inc., New York, U.S.A. (1974); Brooklyn College, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1974); Lehigh University, Betlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. (1974); Games, Women’s Interart Center, New York, U.S.A. (1974); New York Professional Women Artists: Walk-Through Art, Battery and Central Park, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1974); Contemporary Paintings, Joe and Emily Lowe Gallery, Syracuse University, New York, U.S.A. (1974-75); Faculty Exhibition, College of Creative Studies, Brooklyn College, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1974); Feminine 75, UNESCO, Paris (1975); 4 American Artists, U.S.I.S. Cultural Center, Nairobi (1975); Six Artists, Bayonne Jewish Community Center, Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.A. (1975); The Year of The Woman, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, New York,U.S.A. (1975); N.Y. Cultural Center, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1975); Color, Light & Image, curated by Alice Baber, Women’s Interart Center, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1975); Visual Artists Coalition Exhibition, Lowenstein Library Gallery, Fordham University, New York, U.S.A. (1975); Remember the Ladies: Women in America 1750-1815, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C. (1976); American Artists ’76: A Celebration, Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A. (1976); American Women Painters, Housatonic Community College, Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A. (1976); Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, Long Island, New York, U.S.A. (1976); American Art in ’76, Seven Young American Painters, America House, Hamburg, West Germany (1976); A.M. Sachs Gallery Artists, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.A. (1977); Visual Artists Coalition, New York University, Contemporary Arts Gallery, New York, U.S.A (1977); Tenth Street Days: The Co-ops of the 50’s, Association of Artist-Run Galleries, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1977); Tenth Street in 1977, Landmark Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1977); Visual Artists Coalition Exhibition, Adelphi University Alumni House Gallery, New York, U.S.A. (1977); Celebration Exhibition, Clayworks Studio Workshop, New York, U.S.A. (1978); Women Artists: Sketch Books, Women’s Interart Center, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1978); Women Artists ’78: Painting, Graphics, Sculpture, CUNY Graduate Center Mall, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1978); Women Invite Women, WARM, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. (1978);Art as Furniture, Furniture as Art, Ingber Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A. (1979); D,es salles de sejour, American Embassy, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (1981); Colorscope: Abstract Painting from the Permanent Collection 1960-1979, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A. (2010);90 Years of Ink: Prints from RAM’s Permanent Collection, 1920-2010, Riverside Art Museum, California, U.S.A. (2019); Expanding Abstraction: Pushing the Boundaries of Painting in the Americas 1958–1983, Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, U.S.A. (2020); Community, Ashawagh Hall, Springs, New York, U.S.A. (2022); Women Choose Women, The Barn, Frampton Co., Bridgehampton, New York, U.S.A. (2023) and Perseverance, Berry Campbell, New York, New York, U.S.A (2024).

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