Barbara Rose was an art historian, art critic, curator, college professor and filmmaker. She was born, Barbara Ellen Rose, on June 11, 1936 in Washington, D.C. She earned a B.A. degree from Barnard College and attended graduate school at Columbia. In 1984, she earned a PhD from Columbia in the history of art.
She became an influential art historian and critic. She was a champion of minimalism, writing, a landmark essay, "ABC Art" published in Art in America in October 1965. She wrote numerous books and essays. Her best-known book was a textbook, American Art Since 1900. It was widely used in the 1970s. She enjoyed studying present day art and made studio visits to see the latest work of an artist and get information. She was also an art critic for Vogue and New York magazines.
She helped to advance the art careers of women. In 1971, she wrote the first major monograph of Helen Frankenthaler. In 1983, she organized the first museum retrospective of Lee Krasner's work. She wrote the text for monographs of four contemporary female sculptors. She taught and lectured at several colleges and universities, including Sarah Lawrence. She produced eight documentary films.
Barbara Rose died on December 25, 2020 in a hospice in Concord, New Hampshire at the age of 84.
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