ALICE BABER
American, 1928–1982
Alice Baber (1928–1982) was a pioneering American painter known for her radiant explorations of colour, light, and form within the context of post-war abstraction. Her practice, rooted in Abstract Expressionism and Colour Field painting, combined a distinctive lyrical sensibility with technical experimentation, producing organic, biomorphic compositions that reflected her deep emotional and sensory connection to colour.
Born in Charleston, Illinois, Baber began drawing as a child and entered college-level art classes by the age of twelve. She studied at Lindenwood College and later transferred to Indiana University, Bloomington, where she completed her MA in 1951. After a brief period at the École des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau, she relocated to New York City and became part of the vibrant downtown scene, joining the March Gallery and working as arts editor at McCall’s magazine.
In 1958, Baber had her first solo exhibition and began developing the signature circular forms that would define her visual language. That same year, she began traveling regularly to Paris, aligning with a group of American expatriate artists including Sam Francis and Joan Mitchell. Her work gained international recognition throughout the 1960s with exhibitions in London, Edinburgh, Hamburg, and Paris—where she was selected alongside Helen Frankenthaler for the inaugural Jeune Biennale.
Baber's work evolved through continuous experimentation with staining techniques and a growing interest in translucency and movement. Shifting from oils to watercolors and acrylics, she pursued what she called “color hunger”—a process-driven approach in which pigment, light, and emotional response were inextricably linked. By the mid-1970s, she had introduced black into her compositions, expanding her chromatic vocabulary while refining her signature swirling forms.
An advocate for gender equity in the arts, Baber participated in several landmark feminist exhibitions, including Women Choose Women (1972), curated by Lucy Lippard. She also curated Color Forum (1972), a major survey exhibition at the University of Texas, Austin.
Her work is held in over 40 public collections internationally, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; the Albertina Museum, Vienna; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
Colour remained central to Baber’s work throughout her life—both as a visual force and as a means of expression. As she once wrote, “I must feel it, I hear it, I taste it… I start from the driving force of color."
