ALICE BABER

A painter of color and light.

Art historian Levin, biographer of Edward Hopper, Judy Chicago, and Lee Krasner, recounts the life and career of artist, feminist, and educator Alice Baber (1928-1982), whose legacy, Levin argues, has been unjustly ignored by “powerful male art historians and critics [and] curators” and suppressed by the widow of Baber’s former husband. Born in rural Illinois, Baber grew to be a precocious and creative child. Her father’s mental breakdown, which led to the family’s move to Florida when Alice was 3, and her mother’s death before Alice was 15, were blights on an otherwise serene childhood. After studying art in college and at the École des Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau, Baber moved to New York in 1951. While working on her art at night, she supported herself as a journalist or editor, living on her own at a time, Levin notes, “when few single women had the courage or the means to take on such a challenge.” In 1957, the influential critic Thomas Hess singled out her work in a show at the March Gallery and reproduced it in Artnews, a significant recognition for Baber. Levin chronicles her many successes, which included international exhibitions and critical recognition; the travels to Asia and South America that fueled her creativity; her love affairs; her marriage to fellow artist Paul Jenkins, which ended in divorce; and, above all, the quality of her work. Baber described her lyrical early paintings as evoking “the tree of life, the celestial garden, the rivers, the mystical ladders, colored wind and rain, plants made of jewels, mythical springs, and the final rim of the universe.” Five essays by Baber are appended. As the first scholarly examination of the artist, Levin’s thorough research offers a firm grounding for future studies.

A richly detailed homage.