Alice Baber (b. 1928, Charleston, IL; d. 1982, New York, NY) was an American post-war abstract painter known for her colorful and luminous works that seem to dance with graceful motion and shimmer with inner light. Born in Charleston, Illinois, and raised between the Midwest and the Florida Everglades, Baber grew up in vivid landscapes that shaped her lifelong interest in the emotional and visual power of color and light.
Baber’s early engagement with watercolor shaped the transparent, flowing quality of her subsequent work. Her mature work was typically executed using her signature painting technique in which she thinned oil paint and applied it in layers using fine linen cloths. By lifting and dabbing the paint, she created glowing, airy shapes that seem to float on the canvas. Her recurring use of oval shapes, which she described as holding “an infinite range of possibilities for color and light,” became a signature element of her style.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Baber spent 6 months of the year in Paris, where she interacted with other artists and met fellow painter Paul Jenkins, whom she briefly married in 1964. The two shared midwestern origins and a passion for collecting art, as well as a preoccupation with theories of light and color. Baber was fascinated by how light and color could be used to express movement, emotion, and atmosphere.
In the 1970s, Baber became deeply involved in the feminist art movement. She advocated for the increased visibility of women artists and was part of the influential Women Choose Women exhibition in 1973, alongside artists like Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, and Faith Ringgold. Baber gave talks and curated shows that highlighted female artists and served as a trustee of the Women’s Interart Center in New York City.
Throughout her career, Baber stayed focused on the expressive possibilities of color and light. Her abstract paintings don’t rely on rigid shapes or outlines—instead, they suggest a fluid, spiritual space where forms emerge and dissolve in soft, glowing rhythms. Her paintings often feel kinetic, as if the colors are slowly shifting and drifting across the canvas. Many of her titles reference motion—words like “swirls,” “ladders,” “wind,” and “bridges”—which reflect her belief that art could show not just color, but the feeling of color moving through space. Baber’s work continues to inspire for its beauty, and her staunch commitment to creating a space for women in the art world continues to resonate in the present moment.