Jo Baer (Josephine Gail Kleinberg) was born August 7, 1929 in Seattle, Washington. Baer attended the University of Washington, Seattle from 1946 – 1949 and majored in Biology. In 1950, Baer moved to New York where she studied perceptual psychology and philosophy at the New School for Social Research from 1950 – 1953.
In 1953, Baer moved to Los Angeles, CA with her then husband, Richard Baer, a television writer. In 1957, Baer, began experimentation with an Abstract-Expressionist style, characterized by strong light-dark contrasts. In 1960, Baer returned to New York and married artist John Wesley. It is also during this time that she began to create more reductive, hardedge style paintings. During the summer of 1962, Baer began her first mature series of work and also meets fellow artists Dan Flavin and Donald Judd. In 1964, Baer was included in the group show, Eleven Artists, at the Kaymar Gallery, New York, organized by Flavin.
In 1966, Fischbach Gallery, New York, gave Baer her first solo show. This same year she participated in two group exhibitions; Systemic Painting, at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, and 10 at Dwan Gallery, New York. In 1975, the Whitney Museum of Art, New York organized a midcareer retrospective of the artists' work. Shortly after, Baer immigrated to Ireland and then in 1982 relocated to London. Two years later, she settled in Amsterdam. In 1999, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, held a major retrospective of the artists' work. Baer's work is included in permanent museum collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate Modern, London; the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; and the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle.
Jo Baer currently lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
