Born and grew up near Chicago (Lake Forest). Childhood training in music. Graduated from the University of Illinois (Urbana) in pre-medicine. Advanced degrees completed in clinical diagnostic chemistry. Resumed musical studies and serendipitously introduced to visual arts by photographer Art Sinsabaugh. Lived and photographed in Europe for three years before relocating to New York City in 1974. Now makes collages, drawings, etchings and other ink prints as well as photographs. Until 1994 clinical chemistry was occupation in order not to compromise art work.

Work is included in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (201h Century Department & the Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs), New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The Museum of Modem Art, N.Y.; The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Jewish Museum, N.Y.; The Getty Center & Museum; The State Museum, Berlin; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem & Rijksmuseum Meermanno-Westreenianum, The Hague. Work has also been acquired by Rare Book Repositories at New York Public Library; The Rosenwald Collection at The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; The Newberry Library, Chicago; The Royal Library of the Netherlands, The Hague; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris and The Pierpont Morgan Library. Private collections include Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Ruth & Marvin Sackner in the U. S. & André Jammes in Paris.

Solo exhibits include New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Wilmington, Cologne, Chicago, Philadelphia, London & Paris. Group shows include The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Israel Museum (Jerusalem), New Britain Museum of American Art, & The Dual Muse, Washington University, St. Louis. Portfolios have been published in Camera (Lucerne), Creative Camera (London), & Aperture (New York). A Dreyfuss Fellowship recipient at The MacDowell Colony, she spent eight months (1993/4) as Artist-in-Residence in Israel. She received Artist's Grants from the New York State Council on the Arts (Photography), The Polaroid Corporation, & the National Endowment for the Arts (Works on Paper 1994).

A monograph of work entitled ANOTHER SONG was published in 1981. The limited-edition hand-made volume contains forty original prints in an elegant binding. The pictures are united with a poem written especially for this sequence of pictures, by the composer and philosopher John Cage. The book was shown at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1986) and twice at both the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1982 & 87) & The Israel Museum (Jerusalem, 1985 & 1990). It was featured in the Winter 1993 issue of Art Journal, 'Artists and Writers: Collaborations of the 201h Century'. Complete wall exhibitions have taken place the Art Museums of the University of Illinois and Iowa, Drexel University (Philadelphia), The Southeast Museum of Photography (Daytona Beach) and Center for Contemporary Arts (St.Louis).

LABYRINTH OF TIME, the fifth book, was completed after a nine year evolution. The eleven volumes encompass work in a variety of media (made 1972 to 1987). The 77 pictures and texts are bound in full leather. They 'read' conventionally but additionally, each volume opens for exhibition, at which time the fugal aspects of the sequence become even more apparent. As, with all her books, originals - not printed reproductions - are bound into the volumes. The premiere showing of this manuscript took place at The Newberry Library of Chicago (1995). Other venues include the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1996-97) and London's Victoria & Albert Museum (1997), the first showing outside the United States. LABYRINTH OF TIME has been met in all cases with critical acclaim.

Other recent major works include Twisting Silence (1992), Mirror (in Braille, 1994), seven drawings with seven poems embedded in the true version of creation's seven days - Jamaica Mistake (1994). Upcoming exhibitions include Printworks Gallery in Chicago and Smith College Museum of Art & Rare Book Library.

Susan Barron grew up near Chicago. She studied music seriously, but graduated from the University of Illinois in pre-med, where she was introduced to visual art by photographer Art Sinsabaugh. Abandoning medical school for art, she spent four years in Europe, photographing, working and studying before relocating to New York City where she now lives with her husband, David, a classical musician. To make a living, she spent thirty years in medicine: twenty as clinical supervisor in surgical-respiratory intensive care at Mt. Sinai Hospital. She recently retired to devote full time to art. Her first book, another song a monograph of prints with a text written especially for the sequence of pictures by composer John Cage, came out in 1981. Her fifth book, the eleven-volume Labyrinth of Time (77 works on paper - 152 feet [44 meters] of books) was premiered at the Newberry Library of Chicago (1995), traveling on to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1996) and London's Victoria & Albert Museum (1997). It has been hailed as one of the 20th century's most moving, beautiful and complex livre d'artiste. Her books, drawings, photographs, prints, collages and manuscripts are in museums and rare book repositories around the world. Despite medieval appearances, her work commands listing in both editions of Dictionary of the Avant Garde. Her first non-museum exhibition in twenty years will take place at Printworks Gallery, Chicago in May 2002.

Bookmans' Bestiary, Poem, lettering & illumination. The Stinehour Press, 1999.
Jamaica Mistake, Text, poems & illumination, 1994. In press, 2002.
'River Styx', Literary Quarterly, St. Louis, Vol. 56, 2000.
Senza Ancora, Tripartite manuscript, unique, 1999.
'Parnassus', Poetry in Review, New York, Vol.25, No. 1 & 2, 2001

The Dual Muse [the artist as writer: the writer as artist], curated by William Gass, Joseph Kettner. Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis, Missouri, 1997.
Paper, Bone, Vellum, Stone: Center for Contemporary Arts, St. Louis, Missouri, 1998 (solo exhibition)
The Next Word, curated by Joanna Drucker. Newberger Museum of Art, State University of New York, Purchase, NY, 1999
Artists Books, curated by Deirdre Lawrence. Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, 2000.

Which Way is Forward & Which Way is Not. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1997, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1997, International Writers Center, Washington University, 1998
Killing Time: the obliteration of silence, solitude and the ability to remember, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1999. Columbia College, Chicago Center for Book & Paper Arts, 2001.

Printworks Gallery, 313 West Superior Street, Chicago, May 2002
Smith College Museum of Art & Rare Book Library Gallery, Northampton, Retrospective, 2003

MUSEUMS
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Department of Prints, Drawings & Photographs
Twentieth Century Division
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Art Institute of Chicago
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Altes (Staatliche) Museum, Berlin
New Britain Museum of American Art
Jewish Museum, New York
Detroit Institute of Art
Portland Museum of Art, Oregon
The Getty Museum, Malibu
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Rijksmuseum Meermanno-Westreenianum, The Hague

RARE BOOK REPOSITORIES & LIBRARIES
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
Cabinet des Estampes
Rare Book Room
Newberry Library, Chicago
Smith College Library - Mortimer Rare Book Room
New York Public Library
Division of Photographs
Spencer Collection - Rare Book Room
Princeton University Firestone Library - Graphics Arts Collection
Library of Congress Rosenwald Collection
Museum Van Het Boek - The Royal Library of The Netherlands
University of Illinois Library - Rare Book Room - Urbana
Washington University - Special Collections, Olin Library St. Louis
The Royal Library of the Netherlands, The Hague

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Mr. + & Mrs. Paid Mellon
André Jammes, Paris
Lillian Farber, Newfane
Bernard Friedelson, New York
Walter & Naomi Rosenblum Collection, New York
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, New York t
Ruth & Marvin Sackner Archive, Miami Beach
Robert & Marjorie Graff, Far Hills
Mitchell Wolfson, Jr., Miami Beach - Genoa
David Grob, London

UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS, FOUNDATIONS, & CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
Paul Strand Memorial Foundation, New York
Vassar College Museum of Art, Poughkeepsie
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton
Krannert Museum of Art, University of Illinois, Urbana
Polaroid Collection, Cambridge
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York
International Writers Center, Washington University, St. Louis

BOOKS (Selected)
ANOTHER SONG Monograph of thirty-nine original photographic prints by Susan Barron tipped into a handmade silk binding. Accompanying text by John Cage was inspired by this sequence of pictures. Edition limited to fifty-three copies. Callaway Editions, 1981.
BOOK OF SIXTYS [sic] Pictures, binding, calligraphy and gilding by Susan Barron. Edition limited to one, 1983.
BETWEEN THE LIONS Oriental calligraphy and pictures by Susan Barron. Edition limited to one, 1986.
LABYRINTH OF TIME Eleven-volume manuscript consisting of seventy-seven collages, photographs, drawings, musical compositions and ink prints. Pictures, text, calligraphy, and typography by Susan Barron. Hand bound by Sabrina O'Meara. Edition limited to one, 1988.
TWISTING SILENCE Collage, text and binding. Unrestricted commission by The Ruth & Marvin Sackner Archive. Edition limited to one, 1991.
NO ONE GOES CRAZY ALONE Text - scroll. Edition of one, 1991.
HAND IN HAND, Bound book, stone leaves. Drawings, Hebrew text and calligraphy by Susan Barron, 1994.
MIRROR Scroll poem, collage, drawings by S.B. Transcript into Braille, B. Lukinsky. 1995.
JAMAICA MISTAKE Drawings, poems & text by Susan Barron, 1994.
SENZA ANCORA Collage - Drawings, bound by Sabrina O'Meara, 1999

POSTERS
ANOTHER SONG Limited-edition photograph, mounted upon hand silkscreened, hand lettered sheet & tide page, verso. Callaway Editions, 1981.
DELIVRE II Limited-edition off-set lithograph of a collage - drawing; original is a commission by The Ruth & Marvin Sackner Archive, Miami Beach. Printed by The Stinehour Press. The Liman Press, 1987.
BOOKMAN'S BESTIARY abcdarium in style of medieval manuscript. Poem, lettering & illuminations by Susan Barron Printing by The Stinehour Press. The Liman Press, 1999.

PERIODICALS
APERTURE, #91, May, 1983, New York. Portfolio & essay by Carter Ratcliff.
CAMERA, March, 1973, Lucerne. Portfolio with editorial essay.
CREATIVE CAMERA, November, 1974, London. Portfolio & essay.
ART JOURNAL, Winter 1993. another song featured as Cage's favorite collaboration in issue devoted to 'Interactions Between Artists & Writers' in the 20th Century.
RIVER STYX, #S6, February 2000. The Visible Word.
PARNASSUS, Vol.25, Nos.I & 2, 2001, 25th Anniversary Issue.

OTHER
A DICTIONARY OF THE AVANT-GARDE, ed. R. Kostelanetz, entry. N.Y., a capella books, 1996.
A DICTIONARY OF THE AVANT-GARDE, ed. R. Kostelanetz, entry & illustration. 2nd Edition, N.Y., Shirmer Books, 2000

Polaroid Corporation Artist's Grant, 1980 and 1981
New York State Council on the Arts Artist's Grant, 1983
MacDowell Colony Fellowship, 1985
Dreyfuss Fellowship, 1985
Guest Artist/Scholar, Negev Arts Project, Israel, 1993/94
National Endowment for the Arts, (Artist's Grant: Works on Paper) 1993-94

1998 Center of Contemporary Art, St. Louis
1997 Victoria & Albert Museum, London
1997 Drexel University, Philadelphia
1996/7 Philadelphia Museum of Art
1995 The Newberry Library of Chicago
1995 University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City
1995 Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts. Chicago
1993 Southeastern Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, Florida
1993 Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Illinois
1984 Forum Gallery, New York
1984 Delaware Museum of Art, Wilmington
1982 Brooklyn Museum, New York
1981 Callaway Editions, New York
1979 Light Gallery, New York
1973 Galerie Wilde, Cologne
1973 Die Brücke, Vienna
1973 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
1972 Kassel, Hochschule der Bildenden Kunst, Germany
1972 University of Texas Art Museum, Austin

1999 Artists Books, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, N.Y. Curator: Dierdre Lawrence
1998 The Next Word, Newberger Museum of Art, Purchase. Curator: Joanna Drucker
1997 The Dual Muse, International Writer's Center, Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis. Curators: William Gass, Cornelia Homburg, Joseph Kettner.
1994 Arad Museum of Art, Arad, Israel
1993 National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington
1991 Lorence Monk Gallery, New York
1990 The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1989 Chapelle du Bon Pasteur, Montreal
1987 Philadelphia Museum of Art
1986 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
1986 The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1983 New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut
1983 Munson-Williams Proctor Institute, Utica
1983 Print Club of Philadelphia
1982 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1982 Knox-Albright Museum of Art, Buffalo
1982 Philadelphia Museum of Art
Prior to 1982 Bergmann Gallery, University of Chicago
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Clarence Kennedy Gallery (Polaroid Corporation), Cambridge
Limited Image Gallery, Chicago
Notre Dame University, Indiana
Queens Museum, New York
J. B. Speed Museum of Art, Louisville
University of Illinois, Chicago

Printworks Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, April - Jurie 2002
Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, 2004, Retrospective in Library & Museum

ARTNER, Alan: "An intricate tale - writ small", Exhibition article, Chicago Sunday Tribune, July 11, 1995.
BALKIN, Debra: "Interactions Between Artists and Writers", Issue devoted to collaborations of the 20 th Century. Another Song (with John Cage). The Art Journal Winter 1993, Vol.52,#3.
BARKER, Nicolas: Labyrinth of Time, Exhibition catalogue essay. For The Newberry Library, Philadelphia Museum of Art & Victoria and Albert Museum, 1995.
BARKER, Nicolas (Ed.):The Book Collector, Spring 1997, Vol.46, No. 1, Announcement of Labyrinth of Time.
BARKER, Nicolas (Ed.): The Book Collector, Autumn 1997, Vol.46, No.3, Critique of exhibition, Victoria & Albert Museum of Labyrinth of Time.
BARO, Gene: "Susan Barron Profile" Collage as Intimate Art. The Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1982.

ARTICLES, REVIEWS
CAGE, John: X, Writings 1979-1982. Essay on Another Essays & Song and reprint of poem, Wesleyan University Press, 1984.
DIGBY, John & Joan: The Collage Handbook. Anthology of 20th Century Collage. Article & illustration. Thames & Hudson, 1985.
DuBOIS, Daniel: Fragments. Exhibition catalog essay & illustration. The New Britain Museum of American Art, 1983.
DRUCKER, Johanna: The Visual Life of Language, Exhibition catalog essay "Verbal Hothouse: Symbols to Stories. Miami-Dade Community College, 1994.
Delivre II, reproduced.
DRUCKER, Johanna: The Next Word. Exhibition catalogue. Newberger Museum of Art, SUNY-Purchase, 1998.
DUNCAN, Catherine: Paul Strand: An Intimate Protrait, New York, Aperture, 1994.
GASS, William: Artists as Writers, "The Dual Muse" Exhibition catalogue essay, Washington University Museum of Art, St. Louis, 1997.
GEHL, Paul: Labyrinth of Time, Exhibition catalogue essay, Newberry Library, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1995.
GERSH, Beth S.: "Susan Barron Profile". Women Artists News. Critique & Illustration. Vol. 9, #4, (May/June 1984).
GOLDSCHEIDER, Irena: Graphieon, no.3/4, 1997. [quarterly art journal]; "Susan Barron: Labyrinth of Time" article with three illustrations. Prague: Czech, English & German editions.
HIGGINS, Edward: ... An Incredible Eleven Volume Book, exhibition review, Philadelphia Review, December, 26,1996.
KERNS, Chris: Get lost in the Labyrinth of Time, Street, Philadelphia, 1/23/97, exhibition review.
KOSTELANETZ, Richard: Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes, Artist entry. New York, a capella books, 1993.
KOSTELANETZ, Richard: Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes, Second Editions: Artist entry & illustration. New York, Schirmer Books, 2000.
LAWRENCE, Dierdre: Artists Books, Exhibition catalog essay & illustration. The Brooklyn Museum of Art, 2000
LEMAGNY, Jean-Claude: Another Song, "Postlude" to the exhibition: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1984.
LIEBOWITZ, Herbert: Parnassus (Poetry in Review): Vol. 25, no. 1 & 2, 2001.
McCRAY, Porter: "Susan Barron Profile", exhibition announcement, Forum Gallery, New York, 1984.
OSMAN, Colin: Creative Camera. Essay accompanying portfolio. London, November 1974.
PAYZANT, Geoffrey: Essay for catalogue publication, 1999.
PORTER, Allan: Camera. Essay accompanying portfolio. Luzern, March 1973.
RATCLIFF, Carter: Aperture. Essay accompanying portfolio. #91, May 1983.
REVILL, David: The Roaring Silence: John Cage - A Life, p. 270 ff. New York, 1992.
ROSENBLUM, Naomi: French American Review, Publication of the American Society of the French Legion of Honor, Vol. 64, No. 1, Spring 1993, p.9
"Transforming the Ordinary"
RUSSELL, John: The New York Times. Review of Forum Gallery exhibition, March 16, 1984.
SACKNER, M.-in & Ruth: The Beauty of Breathing. Essay & illustration; multiple entries in exhibition catalog, Miami Beach, 1992.
SACKNER, M.M. & Ruth: Archive of Concrete & Visual Poetry. Catalogue essay and entries, Miami Beach, 1985.
SCHMIDT, S. J.: "ersichtlichkeiten: internationale visuelle texte der 90er". experimentelle texte (special issue), University of Siegen (Germany). Delivre II.
'32 Beispiele' von dem Sackner Archiv" 1996.
SCOTT, Martha: Fragments. Exhibition catalog essay. The New Britain Museum of American Art, 1983.
STEVENSON, Julia A.: "Paper, Bone, Vellum, Stone", Exhibition article, St. Louis Post Dispatch, regional edition, 15 October 1998.
TRAGAN, Miri: Arrist's Abroad, Exhibition catalogue: illustrations included. Arad Museum of Art, Israel, 1994.
WASSERMAN, Krystyna: Book as Art V. Exhibition catalog, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington,D.C.,1992