European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 28, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By de Reavis staff writer recognition from one s Peers is perhaps the greatest tribute that can be paid to an artist. That was the sentiment of Barbara Chase Riboud an american in Paris when she Learned that she had won the Carl Sandburg award for her Book of poetry portrait of a nude woman As Cleopatra. The tribute was doubly Sweet Chase Riboud said because it came in the much neglected Field of poetry which she cherishes. This Book meant much to me. I was finally Able to talk my publisher into doing it. You know nobody reads poetry these Days so it s difficult to get someone to publish it. He did it More As a favor because my other books do so  Chase Riboud s first novel the Best Selling Story of Thomas Jefferson s slave mistress Sally Hemings caused an uproar among historians. More than 8.5 million copies Are in print in eight languages. She followed that with valide a novel about an american Creole the daughter of a sugar grower on Martinque. In 1781, at the age of 11, the girl was captured by Barbary pirates. Sold into a turkish Sultan s harem she Rose to Power in the ottoman Empire and became the Mother of one of Turkey s most famous sultans Mahmud ii. The Carl Sandburg award which Chase Riboud is to receive at the Mayflower hotel in Washington d.c., in August honors Only one facet of her artistic Talent. She also is an internationally known sculptor whose work can be found in american museums and universities and in collections throughout Europe. Her sculptures Are often solid and massive aluminium Wall reliefs fountains Bronze sculptures although she sometimes works with such soft materials As Wool. As a poet Chase Riboud displayed both a delicate line and a daring Choice of subject in portrait the Story of Anthony and Cleopatra. The result could easily have been trite and too familiar but the judges on the Carl Sandburg award panel obviously found it otherwise. She Calls portraits Mel Logue which Means some verses Are to be spoken others Sung. In it the characters of Anthony and Cleopatra speak in turn. It s to be read or performed by one actor taking both parts imitating the masculine and feminine voice Chase Riboud explained. Her sensuous sonnets in portrait Are at times so sophisticated by intimate Barbara Chase Riboud is working on a new novel. Tribute to an artist Barbara Chase Riboud sculptor novelist poet that the Reader feels like an indiscreet intruder Cleopatra resting on your right flank you Rise the Moutain of my Valley wild and Barren and naked As the treeless Steppes of Arabia. I am homesick for your face. This Broad Back seems a foreign country Stern and impassive and exotic where i am not sure of myself or men s ways. Muscles Tensed in sleep smooth daring As a racers i Trace a curve of rib a path in the wilderness and press my woman s Throat against the Nape of your neck hoping to hear echoes of your barbarian heart. Intimacy and your rude intrusion was part of the Point my dear she said while sitting in the living room of her apartment overlooking the Luxembourg gardens. She said the title comes from a drawing by Rembrandt that she first saw at an Art auction she visited with her husband an italian Art dealer. Rembrandt had seduced me into believing this very mundane Type of woman that he had drawn was the Cleopatra she recalled. Amazed at my own reaction i knew at some time i would write about her and i would have to write about her classically and in modern  in 1974, she won critical acclaim with her first Book of poetry from Memphis and peking. She created a palpable heat and a coolness of passion tight roping from eroticism to hatred As in these lines from Why did we leave Zanzibar dark halted sister be numeric jewel burning in dry tobacco Leaf Beauty Brittle and flaking discontent eyes damned with the Silt of disappointment lodged and sheltered in Public housing celled there tapping in Morse code on the bars of the mind. The poems of from Memphis to peking Are a tribute to blackness and its consequences and repercussions. They Are evocative contemplative beyond platitudes. Chase Riboud is hard to catch up with living As she does Between Paris Rome and the United states. I have my atelier in Rome where i spend most of the summer usually she said. But i work totally haphazardly alternating Between writing drawing and sculpturing. Sometimes i discover something vital for writing or that i must express in Art. I have several things going on at the same time.". She said she came to Europe following a professor she had fallen in love with but that was soon Over. That was in London. One Day i was looking out of my apartment window which faced a Tennis court. It was pouring rain and yet there were two englishmen out there playing Tennis. That s when i decided i had to leave England she said. I went to Paris got invited to a party where i met Henri Cartier Bresson the famous photographer. He said i had to meet his Godson Marc Riboud a photographer. I did and we married and had two sons one studying at Columbia the other at the  she travelled with Riboud becoming the first american woman invited to Mao s China. Of i even had dinner with Mao me and 499,999 other chinese. It was fascinating. They served the entire meal to the masses in 45 minutes she said. When i got tired of looking at factories i struck out on my own with a guide and saw them starting to excavate that army of Clay soldiers and even went to Mongolia before foreigners were officially allowed there she added. Now Chase Riboud is finishing a novel about the revolt by slaves aboard the Amistad a cuban Schooner that was carrying them to a Caribbean Plantation. On july 1, 1839, the africans seized the ship killed two Crew members put the rest ashore and demanded to be taken Back to Africa. The ship was seized off the coast of Long Island on aug. 24 by an american Brig. The slavers were freed and the africans were imprisoned and tried for murder. The Case caused an uproar. The majority of the . Press advocated sending the africans Back to cuban slavery and president Martin Van Buren leaned to that View. But in the supreme court John Quincy Adams argued that the africans had a right to fight for their Freedom and he won the Case. Thirty two survivors returned to Africa the rest had either died in prison or at sea. One of the problems i had with the material was that my publisher insisted upon including a love Story. Well there just was t a love Story to be had on a slave ship at least not a conventional boy girl kind Chase Riboud said. I finally found a Way to meet the publisher s demands and not destroy the authenticity of the  stripes Magazine july 28, 1988