Frances Barth's paintings combine the topographic and the tectonic with an ethereal lightness of space and color. Born in 1946 in New York City, she attended Hunter College for both her BFA and MFA. She joined Yale's faculty in 1986, and in 2001 was appointed professor. After leaving Yale in 2004, Barth was appointed Director of Mount Royal School of Art, the multi-disciplinary Graduate School at Maryland Institute College of Art. Barth's paintings are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.