“Marilyn Baum’s sumptuous presentation…establishes a new level of mystery. Baum handles gold, silver and blue with reverence allowing the surface texture to soften as if with age.”
— Andrea Liss / Artweek
Marilyn Baum is a contemporary artist based in Mill Valley, California. Her work is held in esteemed collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian, and the San José Museum of Art.
Working across multiple mediums, Baum merges techniques and materials with a constructivist sensibility, creating compositions defined by precision, balance, and an expressive use of color. Her artworks map a personal cosmology—distinct visual worlds that are both formally rigorous and emotionally resonant.
Education
University of California at Los Angeles, B.F.A, 1961
University of California at Los Angeles, graduate studies in art, 1961-63
Collections:
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco
Jacksonville Art Museum, Florida
San José Museum of Modern Art, San José, CA
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Santa Cruz County Museum of Art, Santa Cruz, CA
Arco Collection
Alberta Gas Corporation of Canada, Calgary
Bank of America Corporation Art Collection
Genstar Corporation, San Francisco, CA
Grosvenor Corporation, San Francisco
Prudential Insurance Co., Los Angeles
McCrory Collection, New York, NY
Security Pacific Bank
Time Savings & Loan
Victoria Station Executive Offices
Select Solo Exhibitions:
1998 / Allport Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 / Bank of America World Headquarters, San Francisco, CA
1991 / Olga Dollar, San Francisco, CA
1988 / Allport Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1988 / Bank of America World Headquarters, San Francisco, CA
1986 / Allport Caldwell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1982 / Leah Levy Gallery, San Francisco
1982 / Kathryn Markel Fine Arts Gallery, New York
1981 / Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1981 / The San José Museum of Art, San José, CA
1977 / Zara Gallery, San Francisco
Select Group Exhibitions:
1992 / J.W. Rosenthal, Chicago, IL
1987 / Frontiers of Abstraction, Prichard Art Gallery, University of Idaho, ID
1987 / The Artist and the Myth, Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
1986 / Art Feast, Marin Arts Council, Sausalito, CA
1984 / Highlights: Selections from the Bank of America Corporation Art Collection, Bank of America World Headquarters, San Francisco, CA
1983 / Recent Acquisitions, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco
1983 / Recent Acquisitions, Santa Cruz County Museum of Art, Santa Cruz, CA
1982 / Recent Works on Paper, Leah Levy Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1982 / Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1982 / Allport & Associates Gallery, two-person show, Larkspur, CA
1982 / Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY
1981 / California Artists, Oakland Museum, Oakland, California
1981 / Drawing, Watercolors, & Prints, Leah Levy Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1981 / Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1981 / Harcus Krakow, Boston, Massachusetts
1980 / Center for Visual Arts, Oakland, CA
1980 / Louise Allrich Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1980 / Sarah Rentschler Gallery, New York, NY
1980 / Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1980 / Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York, NY
1980 / Falkirk Third Annual Exhibition (juried), San Francisco, CA
“Marilyn Baum’s flat, rectangular printed and painted papers are locked together in strong, simple compositions. For all their extremely subtle color and texture, they read powerfully from a distance, like miniature Rothkos.”
— Jeffrey Weiss / Art Magazine