Background
Barbara Blondeau was born on May 6, 1938 in Detroit, Michigan, United States.
Barbara Blondeau was born on May 6, 1938 in Detroit, Michigan, United States.
Originally, Barbara Blondeau studied to be a painter at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She later on received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1961. Aaron Siskind and Joseph Jachna gave direction to Blondeau, when she was studying at the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Blondeau received her Master’s of Fine Arts (MFA) at the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1968. While working on her MFA, Blondeau also taught at the Institute of Design. During her graduate school days, Blondeau, experimented with concepts such as transparency, repetition, patterning and narrative in her work.
Barbara Blondeau became a teacher at St. Mary's College Notre Dame, in Indiana starting in 1966. While teaching there she was working towards her master's degree from the Institute of Design. She later left in 1968 after receiving her masters. From there she moved to Philadelphia and started teaching at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1970 she became an assistant professor at the Philadelphia College of the Arts. During her career at the PCA she became the chairman of the department of photography and film. Her career as a professor ended when her illness prevented her from performing everyday activities.
Although Barbara Blondeau’s photographic career was short, spanning less than ten years, it was productive. She experimented with color printing, multiple exposure, orthochromatic film, and contact printing. She was interested in exploring the natural world and reassembling the information into an artificial reality. In her color work, she never used natural colors and in many prints Magenta seemed to be a prominent color. The human figure is also a main character in her work and Blondeau strived to abstract it in many different ways.
In her street photography Blondeau would often use orthochromatic film to make prints, this type of film is clear and yields a high contrast. Subtle gray tones and details are lost. This effect provides the viewer with a stark, concentrated reality. Any information gained from the image must be read solely from the highlights and shadows.
Although Blondeau only had two solo exhibitions during her short career, she was a part twenty-five group shows, eleven after her death. Time-Life Books highlighted her pictures in two of their publications, Frontiers of Photography and The Print. Her work was also published in the magazines Camera, Popular Photography Annual, After Image and Camera Arts. She was a part of the group exhibitions Vision and Expression and The Multiple Image, which both resulted in exhibition Catalogues. Her photographs are a part of the permanent collections at The National Gallery of Canada, Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Rhode Island School of Design, and Colgate University.
On Christmas Eve, 1974 Barbara Blondeau’s life was cut short by breast cancer. Barbara Blondeau first learned of her cancer in 1970. An operation was performed to remove the cancer and it was believed to be successful. However, in 1973, the cancer returned. Further operations and chemotherapy failed to stop the spreading of the breast cancer. She deteriorated quickly and was soon unable to move on her own. In October 1974 Barbara Blondeau entered Philadelphia Hospital, less than three months later, on December 24, 1974, Barbara Blondeau passed away after battling cancer for four years. During her fight with breast cancer she had created many new works which reflected, and were greatly influenced by, both her struggle and the many events of her life.