VICTORIA BARR

BARR--Victoria, renowned American painter known for her abstract compositions in the tradition Abstract Expressionism, Lyrical Abstraction, and Color Field painting, passed away on March 28th in Manhattan at the age of 87. Born in New York City, she was the only child of Alfred Barr, inaugural director of the Museum of Modern Art, and Margaret Scolari Barr, art historian, translator, and educator. Barr's family home was steeped in the work of her parents, and her childhood was surrounded by intellectual and artistic luminaries. At 15, Barr traveled to Europe with her parents, visiting the studios of Picasso, Chagall, and Matisse, a formative moment of her artistic career. She attended Milton Academy, Radcliff College and Parsons School of Design, before completing her B.F.A at Yale in 1961. She painted in Paris from 1964 to 1966 on a Fulbright Grant. Upon her return to New York, Barr taught at Hunter and Barnard Colleges, and worked as a designer at the Museum of Natural History, living in downtown Manhattan's vibrant artist community alongside Claes Oldenburg, Patty Mucha, Larry Rivers, and other artists of the period. She joined the women's movement, leading meetings of consciousness raising which focused on the problems women faced within the art world, and participated in anti-Vietnam War activism. She spent much of the 1980s and 90s painting and exhibiting in Brazil, Indonesia, and India. Her works are held in the collections of the Whitney Museum, the Brest Museum, the Parrish Art Museum, and many galleries and private collections. She is survived by her paternal cousins.