Marilyn L. Schaefer

Composition with Pink and Orange, Cranbrook

1959

Stunning abstract Bay Area Figurative Movement piece titled "Napoleon's Ambition" by Katherine Barieu (American, 1917-2010), 1982. Signed and dated lower right corner. Presented in grey painted slat shadow box frame. Image size: 16"H x 16"W. Framed size is 17"H x 17"W x 1.50"D. Born in 1917, Katherine Barieau was among the artists associated with the University of California at Berkeley in the 1950s. She remained active in the regional art scene throughout the following decades, producing abstract and figurative work in oil, acrylic, watercolor, mixed media and collage. The daughter of Scottish immigrants, Barieau was raised in Cambridge, MA. She graduated from Wellesley College (BA 1938) and later settled in California. Her art studies culminated with her enrollment in the art department at the University California, Berkeley (MFA 1953). A quote from a 1992 artist statement reads, "I was caught up in the wave of Abstract Expressionism and influenced by the riches in the Unconscious (I had a Jungian therapist). I have never ceased to experiment with media and searching to find how best to express inner ideas. It was wonderful to be exposed to established and active painters, to have a chance to study with experienced painters, to have friends who were also exploring and involved." Her teachers included John Haley, James McCray, Glenn Wessels and Felix Ruvolo. Her friends included fellow UC students Paul Wonner, Theophilus Brown and Jerrold Davis - as well as Richard Diebenkorn after this return to Berkeley in 1953. Barieau also studied with the California watercolorist Alexander Nepote, and with the New York School Abstract Expressionists Esteban Vicente and Kyle Morris...

Lady with a Hat Abstract Expressionist Heavy Impasto Figurative Original Oil Abstract Expressionist painting of a close-up, expressive portrait of a woman by an unknow artist, rende...