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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 uvre which the French would perceive as
quintessentially American.
Gerald
A. Pogach, University of Paris, James van der Zee Award
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