Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
American, 1928-1982
Abstract painter, lithographer and feminist, Alice Baber is recognized for her use of luminous, abstract shapes, particularly in stained canvases filled with transparent, radiant color. For this reason, she is often compared with her contemporary, Helen Frankenthaler. Baber's lyrical compositions often consist of overlapping floating round or ovoid shapes. Born in 1928 in Charleston, Illinois, the artist was dogged by ill-health as a child, forced to spend her winters in Florida to escape the harsh northern winters. Cancer would claim her at the relatively young age of 54.
Baber began her art studies early, as if to compensate for a shortened life, studying drawing as an eight-year-old, and taking a college class by age twelve. She attended Lindenwood College in Missouri for two years, then studied with Alton Pickens, a figurative expressionist painter, at Indiana University in Bloomington. She received her M.A. degree there in 1951.
Travel was an important activity for Baber in the early 1950s, during her marriage from 1964-1970 to abstract painter Paul Jenkins, and throughout her life. In 1951, she studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau, France, and traveled through Europe. In 1958, she began a several-year period of living in Paris. In 1964, Baber and Jenkins visited Japan for their show at the Osaka Pinacotheca Museum.
In the early 1950s, Baber went to live in New York City, where she became a member of a Tenth Street co-operative gallery, the March Gallery, where she had her first one-person show in 1958. She attended the Yaddo Colony in Saratoga Springs, New York for the first time in that year. She was supporting herself by writing, later becoming art editor of McCall's magazine.
Baber visited India twice in the 1970s. In 1974, she had a one-person exhibition in New Delhi, the same year she traveled to Iran for a show in Teheran. From 1976 to 1978, Baber traveled to 13 Latin American countries with the U.S. State Department, exhibiting her work and lecturing on art. In 1979, Baber was an artist-in-residence at the Tamarind Institute print workshop.
Baber organized exhibitions of women artists, including "Color Forum," in 1972 at the University of Texas, in Austin, and "Color, Light, and Image," in 1975 in New York City at the Women's Interart Center, a show of artists from around the world in recognition of the United Nations International Women's Year. Baber wrote an essay for the catalogue of the Texas show.
Baber was a writer and teacher, as well as an artist, serving as artist-in-residence in Albuquerque at the University of New Mexico's Tamarind Institute lithography workshop. She taught painting at the New School, New York City; the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of California, Berkeley. Her stain paintings, different from but related to those of Paul Jenkins, explored both variations of a single color and rich combinations of multiple colors.
to
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
971
401
330
279
1
1
Artist: Alice Baber
"Across the Wide, Tokyo" Alice Baber, 1964 Color-Field Work on Paper
By Alice Baber
Located in New York, NY
Alice Baber
Across the Wide, Tokyo, 1964
Signed, titled, and dated on the reverse
Watercolor and leaf collage on paperboard
10 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches
Alice Baber once famously describe...
Category
1960s Color-Field Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor, Board
Related Items
Larry Poons, Midget Racer, unique Color Field Abstract Geometric drawing, signed
By Larry Poons
Located in New York, NY
Larry Poons
Midget Racer, 1963
Colored Pencil on Graph Paper
Signed, titled, and dated by the artist on the lower right front
Original frame with gallery label included
Provenance: H...
Category
1960s Color-Field Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media, Color Pencil
$20,000
H 16.5 in W 24.5 in D 1 in
Basement Systems
By Kory Twaddle
Located in Kansas City, MO
Artist : Kory Twaddle
Title : Basement Systems
Materials : Acrylic, tempera, gouache, and glitter glue on cardboard drawing pad back
Date : 2019
Dimensions : 18 x 12 x .2 in.
Kory ...
Category
2010s Abstract Expressionist Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paint, Paper, Conté, Charcoal, India Ink, Acrylic, Tempera, Watercolor, ...
Autumn Biogram of the Nelson
By Kory Twaddle
Located in Kansas City, MO
Artist : Kory Twaddle
"Autumn Biogram of the Nelson"
Newsprint, graphite, conté crayon pastel, charcoal, beeswax, cardboard, paper, gingko leaves, stickers, and Mixed Media on drawi...
Category
2010s Abstract Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paint, Paper, Conté, Charcoal, India Ink, Acrylic, Tempera, Watercolor, ...
Dexter
s Choice State II, signed mixed media watercolor (unique variant), Framed
By Larry Zox
Located in New York, NY
Larry Zox
Dexter's Choice, State II, ca. 1990
Mixed media, Watercolor pochoir, and Oil stick Wax, Water-Based Crayons, on heavy Arches museum watercolor rag paper with deckled edges
...
Category
1990s Color-Field Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Crayon, Mixed Media, Oil, Watercolor, Graphite, Monoprint
$10,000
H 42 in W 62 in D 1.5 in
Bay with Boats Color Monotype unique signed abstract color field landscape frame
By Wolf Kahn
Located in New York, NY
Wolf Kahn
Bay with Boats, 1987
Color monotype on Somerset white wove paper
Hand signed and dated by Wolf Kahn on the lower right front, bears labels on the back
Frame Included: matte...
Category
1980s Color-Field Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Lithograph, Monotype
$10,000
H 34 in W 47 in D 2 in
Monotype w/hand painting, geometric art famed color field painter, signed Framed
By Kenneth Noland
Located in New York, NY
Kenneth Noland
Untitled, 1987
Monotype with hand painting on wove paper
Signed and dated in pencil on the reverse, with the artist's initials blind stamped lower right
Unique
Frame i...
Category
1980s Color-Field Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Monotype, Screen
Kenneth NolandMonotype w/hand painting, geometric art famed color field painter, signed Framed, 1987
$15,000 Sale Price
25% Off
H 43 in W 31.25 in D 1 in
Blue Springs Semi Upper Level
By Kory Twaddle
Located in Kansas City, MO
Artist : Kory Twaddle
Title : Blue Springs Semi Upper Level
Materials : Colored pencil, marker, tempera, gouache, stickers, tape, glitter glue, pastel, oil pastel, acrylic, graphite...
Category
2010s Abstract Geometric Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paint, Paper, Conté, Charcoal, India Ink, Acrylic, Tempera, Watercolor, ...
"Color Field (Chalk on Wet Paper)" original pastel by Sylvia Spicuzza
By Sylvia Spicuzza
Located in Milwaukee, WI
In this composition, Sylvia Spiczza works in the manner of color field artists like Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler, presenting a gradation of colors shifting from yellow to red ...
Category
1960s Color-Field Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pastel
$2,430
H 25.75 in W 19.75 in
Target acrylic on paper geometric Color Field painting signed
inscribed Framed
By Kenneth Noland
Located in New York, NY
Kenneth Noland
Untitled Target, 2001
Acrylic paint on offset lithograph paper
Signed, dated, and dedicated along lower edge: For Howard and Susan with Love Kenneth Noland 6.10.01
Fra...
Category
1990s Color-Field Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Permanent Marker, Lithograph, Offset
$38,500
H 22 in W 21.75 in D 1.25 in
Lao (1.22.98)
By Mala Breuer
Located in Phoenix, AZ
watercolor on Arches, framed
Mala Breuer grew up attending classes in painting and drawing from a young age at the California College of Arts and Crafts. After high school she att...
Category
1990s Color-Field Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
"Underwater Series: Coral Reef, " Original Watercolor signed by David Barnett
By David Barnett
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Underwater Series: Coral Reef" is an original mixed media piece by David Barnett that incorporates watercolor and acrylic on rag museum foam board, signed in the lower right. This ...
Category
2010s Abstract Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Watercolor, Foam Board, Rag Paper
$4,860
H 12.25 in W 39.12 in
Walter Darby Bannard, Ammersee #2 signed painting by renowned Color Field artist
By Walter Darby Bannard
Located in New York, NY
Walter Darby Bannard
Ammersee #2, 1975
Watercolor and acrylic painting on paper
Signed, titled and dated lower recto
This is a unique work
Frame included: elegantly floated and frame...
Category
1970s Color-Field Alice Baber Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Watercolor, Graphite
$8,000
H 23 in W 28.5 in D 1.5 in
Alice Baber drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Alice Baber drawings and watercolor paintings available for sale on 1stDibs.