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Elizabeth A.Sackler Center for Feminist Art

Barbara Zucker

Burlington, VT
United States

Barbara Zucker was born in Philadelphia. She received an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and an MA from Hunter College in Sculpture. Zucker and Susan Williams were the co-founders of A.I.R. Gallery, the first women’s art gallery in the United States. With Dotty Attie and Mary Grigoriadis, two early members, they sought out the twenty artists who joined the A.I.R. collective and gallery. A.I.R. opened its doors in 1972 at 97 Wooster Street in New York City. Thirty-five years later, the gallery still thrives. Zucker has gone on to exhibit, teach, write and lecture. She has written essays on Florine Stettheimer, Ree Morton, Ann Sperry, Leigh Burton and Wendy Hirschberg, and has contributed articles and reviews to many journals and magazines. Her work has been exhibited at such venues as Robert Miller Gallery, Artists Space, Sculpture Center, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Tufts University, and the Museum of Arts and Design. She has been reviewed in such publications as: The New York Times, Art in America, Artforum and Art News. She has taught at Princeton, Yale, The University of the Arts (Philadelphia), the Vermont Studio Center, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. Zucker chaired the Art Department at the University of Vermont in Burlington from 1979 - 1985, and taught there until 2001. She is now a Professor Emerita, and divides her time between Vermont and New York.

Feminist Artist Statement

“The idea of writing a feminist artist statement makes me cringe somehow. What is one anyway? Being thus defined, even though I am unsure of the definition, makes me feel trapped. Yet of course I am a feminist - just like learning to ride a bike or how to swim, one cannot unlearn being one. Once I was made aware of the universal inequities in women’s lives, my world-view changed forever and there was no turning back. As I write this, Harvard has just appointed its first woman president: a confident, well- spoken woman who talks matter-of-factly about her own abilities and intelligence, without a shred of embarrassment or ingratiating subtext. I wept as I heard her speaking on the car radio. This has happened in my lifetime, and if it is happening in academia, then surely women in the major political arena in America will become a reality, and the fantasy that it could happen someday will be allowed to end. I question my intentions in my visual work, asking if, during this terrible moment in our country’s history, examining society’s response to women aging (one of the subjects I have recently explored in my sculpture), is too trivial. I think of Goya, Daumier, Grosz, Spero, Golub, Rosler, Kozloff, Haacke, and I think I am not asking the right questions, not digging deeply enough. But then I remember that we are many. We do not have to depend on the idea of the genius artist to guide us anymore, and our numerous subjects and sources of expression will collectively speak and cover most, if not all of the issues that confound, wound, enrage or delight us.”

Barbara Zucker

Lilian’s Face Flowing

The basis for this sculpture was taken from a photograph of my friend, Lilian Baker Carlyle, who was then a ninety one year old woman. Lilian died in 2006 at the age of 94.

Lilian’s Face Flowing

The basis for this sculpture was taken from a photograph of my friend, Lilian Baker Carlyle, who was then a ninety one year old woman. Lilian died in 2006 at the age of 94.

Lilian’s Face Flowing, detail

The basis for this sculpture was taken from a photograph of my friend, Lilian Baker Carlyle, who was then a ninety one year old woman. Lilian died in 2006 at the age of 94.

Around My Mouth

This sculpture was exhibited in “Barbara Zucker: Time Signatures” at The Borowsky Gallery at The Gershman Y in Philadelphia PA. in 2006 - 2007. This piece, as well as three other images, herein are from “Time Signatures,” an on-going series of sculptures, prints and drawings whose subject is the pattern of lines in the faces of women.

The Front of My Neck and After Linda Nochlin

Both works were exhibited in “Barbara Zucker: Time Signatures” at The Borowsky Gallery at The Gershman Y in Philadelphia PA. in 2006 - 2007. This piece as well as three other images herein are from “Time Signatures,” an on-going series of sculptures, prints and drawings whose subject is the pattern of lines in the faces of women.

Leg Shaving

This sculpture is from the seemingly formal, abstract series “For Beauty’s Sake,” work created in a before and after calligraphic format that examined the then burgeoning phenomenon of cosmetic surgery in the western world. The series was produced from 1989 – 1991. Collection: Chuck Barris

Reflector

From a group of all black sculptures, many on wheels to appear self-propelling. Exhibited at The Pam Adler Gallery in New York, 1985. Private collection: New York.

Three

One of a series of sculptures from “Harlequin Poles,” and “Pipes with Ruffles” produced from 1976 – 1982. “Three” was exhibited at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York in 1978. Collection: Kresge Art Museum.

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Burlington, VT 05401
United States

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