Artists

Marshall Baron was born and spent his life in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). He was multi-talented and highly considered as a humanitarian, lawyer and music critic, but he is best known as a painter. He first started painting at the age of eleven, creating images that displayed his love of nature. He attended Milton High School in Bulawayo and on matriculating, he was awarded both a Beit and Southern Rhodesia Scholarship to study at university. He attended the University of Cape Town where he studied law, painting continuously throughout his studies. Baron’s love for classical music had a profound effect on his art production, which became more Impressionistic whilst at university. He first exhibited in South Africa in 1954. After graduating, he returned to Bulawayo where he painted prolifically as well as working in the legal profession. In 1966 and on two subsequent occasions, Baron was awarded an art scholarship to attend the Annual Young Artists’ Summer School in Skowhegan, Maine, United States of America. It was in Skowhegan that he was exposed to Abstract Expressionism, which was to become the dominant style of his work. His paintings remained influenced by the African landscape and his love of nature, with sound arrangements of shape and colour, but his brushstrokes became more lyrical and freer with a newfound vitality. The whimsical titles of his works offered viewers clues to understanding his highly abstract creations.

Baron was a founding member of the Rhodesian Society of Artists and became the Chairman in 1976. He exhibited extensively in Zimbabwe and South Africa during his lifetime and a number of Retrospective exhibitions have been held in Zimbabwe and in Tel Aviv since his sudden death in 1977. Baron’s work is represented in the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, in permanent collections in the United States and Canada, and in private collections throughout the world.