Barbara Lion

Note: Barbara Lion was born in New Orleans in 1945. She graduated from Mount Carmel Academy in 1963 and then pursued a degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in art despite her initial intention of majoring in graphic design. At ULL, her naturally curious disposition led her to experiment with a variety of media, and she took classes in painting, sculpture, art history, filmmaking and photography. Lion continued her studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where she earned a master’s degree in art history, and shortly thereafter she worked at the Baton Rouge Gallery where she met her future husband, artist Robert Warrens.

Lion herself did not start painting professionally until 1974. A bold and independent thinker, she referred to her time in Catholic school and her rejection of the strict religious experience, “…that I didn’t fulfill the nuns’ expectations makes me more rebellious as an artist, gives me pleasure in chance-taking and recklessness.” A diagnosis of multiple sclerosis marked a pivoting point for Lion who adapted her artistic style to her illness. As a result, according to Roger Green, “her art became of necessity increasingly experimental and loose.”

While Robert Warrens went on to achieve well-deserved acclaim for his impressive body of work, Lion’s contribution to the local art scene remained in the shadows. Tragically, she eventually succumbed to complications from her multiple sclerosis in 1998 at the young age of fifty-three, leaving behind a body of work that has yet to take center stage.

Ref.: Green, Roger. “Husband and Wife Team Explore Unique Facets of Their Environment.” Times-Picayune. July 9, 1989; “Barbara Ann