Born in Seattle, Jo Baer was a painter whose best-known works were created in the 1960s and 1970s. These works focus on how boundaries and borders influence visual perception. Untitled (Wraparound Triptych—Blue, Green, Lavender), 1969, in Glenstone’s collection, subtly reorients the viewer’s perspective using attenuated bands of color to pull focus from the front and center of the canvas to its sides—a gesture that emphasizes the three-dimensionality of an object and its relationship to the wall. Baer’s practice later developed into what she called “radical figuration,” which fuses symbols, images, and words into nonnarrative compositions.

–Rebecca Altermatt, from the Glenstone Field Guide