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Introduction

Made in the UK

Contemporary Art from the Richard Brown Baker Collection
September 23, 2011 - January 8, 2012

Made in the UK offers an exceptional look at developments in British art--from the abstract painting of the 1950s to the hyperrealist images of the 1970s to the varied approaches of contemporary work. Throughout this period British art has been integral to international developments in contemporary art, but many of the artists included in this exhibition are less well known in America today than they once were. The RISD Museum's extraordinary collection of postwar British art--uniquely strong in the United States--was made possible by the foresight and generosity of renowned collector Richard Brown Baker (American, 1912--2002). The show celebrates his extraordinary gift of British art as well as the works purchased with the substantial bequest he provided to continue building the collection.

Baker, a Providence native, moved to New York in 1952, living just blocks from the 57th Street art galleries. As the city evolved into the new center of the art world, Baker was compelled to collect. Although he did not have large funds at his disposal, he became one of the most prescient collectors of American and European contemporary art in the late 20th century, acquiring more than 1,600 works, many before the artists had established their reputations. Baker never intended to build a collection of British art; his British holdings developed naturally in the context of his international outlook. He gave most of his collection to the Yale University Art Gallery, his alma mater, but gifted the RISD Museum more than 300 works, of which 136 are British. This gift was given in recognition of several exhibitions on other aspects of his collection organized by the RISD Museum, as well as to honor his time spent in England as a Rhodes scholar. He noted in his journal, "As I obtained my Rhodes Scholarship from Rhode Island, I feel that I am making a kind of gesture to England and to my native city by this gift."

Made in the UK is the first presentation of Baker's British collection as well as the first opportunity to see many of the works acquired with his bequest. Many of the newer purchases made with Baker's funds are presented in this gallery. The larger, adjacent gallery brings us back in time toward the early purchases that Baker made himself.

Most of Baker's British purchases were by artists associated with St. Ives, a coastal town in Cornwall.

Made in the UK: Contemporary Art from the Richard Brown Baker Collection and the publication of its accompanying catalogue are made possible by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Selected Objects

Peter Lanyon

Airscape, 1961

Peter Blake

Nadia, 1981

David Hockney, printmaker

Reclining Figure, 1975

Roger Hilton

Yellow, April 1959, 1959

Peter Lanyon

Bocastle, 1956

Alan Davie

Variations for a Purple Bow #2, 1960

David Hockney

Plastic Tree Plus City Hall, 1964

Richard Hamilton, designer

Dedicated Follower of Fashion, 1980

Peter Sedgley

Trace, 1964

Richard Smith

Town and Country, 1961

Peter Phillips

5 x 4 / Monaco, 1975

John Plumb

Untitled, 1974

Prunella Clough

Cone II, 1979

William Scott

Still Life Within a Space, 1970

Christopher Le Brun, designer

No. 3, 1990

John Salt

Silver Plymouth in Woods, 1979

Anthony Green

Regal Rubber Company, c. 1954, 1980

John Hoyland

Composition XX, 1970

William Scott

Frying Pan and Eggs, ca. 1952

Christopher Le Brun, designer

No. 8, 1990

Ben Nicholson

Deep Persian Lilac, 1955

John A. Parks

Camden Town, 1980

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Dazio Grande, 1843

David Hockney

Peter Resting with Clothes on, St. Tropez, 1969

Anthony Caro

Late Quarter - Variation E, 1981

Keith Vaughan

Study for Figure with Towel, 1957

Bridget Riley

Study for Deny IV, 1966

Peter Hutchinson

8 Circles Series: Green/Violet, 1965

Alan Davie

Diamond O 6, 1954

Prunella Clough

Cone I, 1979

Bill Jacklin

Untitled No. 11, 1972

John Bellany

See Saw, 1981

Patrick Caulfield

Still Life with Bottle and Two Glasses, 1965

Victor Pasmore

Linear Development #6, 1970

William Pye

Eight Elbows, 1969

Lynn Chadwick

Two Figures, 1974

Nigel Hall

Untitled, 1973

Bridget Riley

Untitled (Fragment 1), 1965

William Tucker

Untitled, 1974

Yinka Shonibare, MBE

Un Ballo in Maschera (Courtiers V), 2004

Steven Campbell

Men Insulting Nature and the Notion of Travel, 1986

Martin Boyce

Ventilation Grills (Punching through the Clouds), 2004

Martin Boyce

We Are Still Here (Think About Why We Are Still Here), 2005

Simon Periton

Spaccanapoli 2, 2004

Tacita Dean

Kronos, 2004

Paul Morrison

Rhizophore, 2006

Louise Hopkins

Untitled (Blue Map), 2003

Kathy Prendergast

Multitudinous Canadian Lakes No. 1, 2003

Roger Hiorns

Untitled, 2005

Eva Rothschild

Heavy Cloud, 2003

Anish Kapoor

Untitled, 2005

Richard Long

Mountainside Ellipse, 1999

Shirazeh Houshiary

Untitled, 2007

Jim Lambie

Durriti Column, 2007
No Image Available

David Musgrave

Tape Golem No. 2, 2006

Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin by Tracey Emin, 2001 - 2005

Andrew Lord

Tasting, 1996 - 1998

Cathy Wilkes

Untitled, 2008

Tom Dixon

Extruded Chair, 2007

David Musgrave

Plane with Embossed Figures, 2007

Keith Coventry

White Abstract: Wedding Kiss, Charles and Diana, 2001

Ken Currie

Story from Glasgow, 1989

Garth Evans

Canal No. 13, 1982

Bridget Riley

Gather, 1981

David Hockney

Romantic Head, 1963

Howard Hodgkin

Moonlight, 1972

Kenneth Martin

Study for Chance, Order, Change Painting, 1976

Susan Hiller

Big Blue, 1974 - 1976

Damien Hirst

Utopia, 2008

Fiona Banner

Shy Nude, 2007

Bob and Roberta Smith

Tate Modern, 2008

Alan Davie

Altar of the Black Diamond, 1953

Hamish Fulton, artist

Ten Toes Toward the Rainbow, 1993

Richard Deacon

Summer Season, 1999

Julian Opie

View of Matsuzaki Bay in the Rain, from Route 136, 2007

Ronald B. Kitaj

The Perils of Revisionism, 1963

Margaret Priest

Auditorium, 1972

John Walker

Kata Tjuta No. 4, 1988

Simon Evans

Berlin Art Scene, 2009

Antony Gormley

Breathing Room XI, 2010

Hew Locke

Arabian Nights, 2006

Rachel Whiteread

Stairs, 6 steps, black, 1995

Anna Barriball

Sunrise/Sunset VI, 2009

Callum Innes

Untitled No. 106, 2010

Mona Hatoum

Projection (Cotton), 2006

Angus Fairhurst

When I Woke Up in the Morning, the Feeling Was Still There, 1992

Damien Hirst

Untitled, 1992

Michael Landy

COR! WHAT A BARGAIN!, 1992

Marc Quinn

Template for My Future Plastic Surgery, 1992

Rachel Whiteread

Mausoleum Under Construction (after a photograph by Camilo José Vergara), 1992

Jake Chapman

Double Deathshead, 1997

Mat Collishaw

Untitled, 1997

Georgina Starr

You Stole My Look!, 1997

Gillian Wearing

The Garden, 1997

Sam Taylor-Wood

Red Snow, 1997

Grayson Perry

May My Ashes Blow Away on the Winds of Change, 1986

John Hoyland

Untitled, 1967

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Made in the UK : Contemporary Art from the Richard Brown Baker Collection

September 23, 2011 - January 8, 2012
View Checklist PDF

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