Oil Paint
Oil paint is a slow-drying art medium made with pigment and a drying-oil binder that allows extended working time, smooth blending, and layered application.
Painter
Jo Baer
Jo Baer was an American painter known for sharply defined Minimalist canvases with slim color bands near their edges and for a later return to figurative imagery.
Jo Baer quick facts
Baer's 1960s paintings used subtle border color and contrast to make viewers perceive changing light and depth. She later left strictly nonrepresentational painting rather than repeating one style for her whole career.
| Born | August 7, 1929 · Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Died | January 21, 2025 · Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Nationality | American |
| Movements | Minimalism (1960s hard-edge paintings); later figurative painting |
| Paint types | Oil paint in Double-Bar, Grey (Green Line) (1968) and Memorial for an Art World Body (Nevermore) (2009) |
| Painting surfaces | Canvas; later work also used unstretched canvas |
| Painting methods | Used narrow bands of black and color around pale or white interiors to produce edge-based optical effects; later combined imagery, signs, and symbols in figurative compositions |
| Common subjects | Border relationships, perceived light and color, then later layered narrative and symbolic figures |
| Notable works | Untitled (Korean) (1962–63) · Double-Bar, Grey (Green Line) (1968) · Memorial for an Art World Body (Nevermore) (2009) |
Sources: MoMA: Double-Bar, Grey (Green Line), Whitney: Jo Baer and Untitled (Korean), MoMA: Remembering Jo Baer (later oil painting), Guggenheim: Jo Baer.
Paint types used
MoMA lists Double-Bar, Grey (Green Line) as oil on canvas and also documents a 2009 figurative painting in oil on unstretched canvas. A consistent oil medium does not mean her earlier optical canvases and later narrative images belong to the same phase.
Surface types used
Canvas was the support for Baer's 1968 edge paintings, and MoMA documents unstretched canvas for a 2009 work. The measured margins and painted borders of her early canvases make their actual edges part of the viewer's experience.
Canvas
Canvas is a woven fabric support, commonly cotton or linen, used for painting and sold either raw or prepared with a compatible ground layer.
Painters similar to Jo Baer
Martin explored delicate lines and grid relationships, while Stella's earlier reduced geometries provide a parallel to Baer's edge-conscious abstract painting.
Agnes Martin
Agnes Martin was a Canadian-born American painter known for quiet abstract grids and stripes, delicate pencil lines, and softly colored canvases.
Frank Stella
Frank Stella was an American artist known for abstract painting and extensive use of industrial coatings, including metallic, alkyd, epoxy, urethane, fluorescent, and antifouling paints, alongside acrylic, watercolor, and gouache work.