| | Barbara Chase-Riboud is a woman of passion -- 'Une Femme
Passionee' -- passionate about her art, her people and her times. She is also
a thinking artist whose conceptions are in eternal flux. Her conceptions are ever
changing and ever innovative.
The French amongst whom she has chosen to
live for three
decades would call her an 'artist-savant', an 'artist-thinker'
-- exactly and perfectly placed in her times; which is to say that Chase-Riboud
ignores none of the preoccupations of her
contemporaries. She imposes on these
times her changing
themes and ideas of expression. Her initial sculptures --
massive abstract accomplishments -- were a combination of bronze and textiles
which some artists termed 'l'art brut', raw art in all its pristine power.
Barbara
Chase-Riboud's life work is revelatory. While her
sculpture does reveal the
archetypal power of primordial myth, her poetry possesses the subtle, sensual
power of the highly
sophisticated artist that she is. Her work is her own,
combining the classicism of the European world with the spiritual, yet
urbane
work of the great African masters -- combining in a
vision, scale and œuvre
which the French would perceive as
quintessentially American.
Gerald A. Pogach, University of Paris, James van
der Zee Award
| |
)
)
)
)
)
