Ben Nicholson

Richard Brown Baker described himself as "inadequately experienced" when asked to comment on the collection of contemporary art that he exhibited at RISD in 1959. The Providence native had recently narrowed his collecting focus to "art since 1945," but had already assembled an international sampling of artists such as Jackson Pollock, Ad Reinhardt, Lionel Feininger, Hans Hofmann, and Robert Motherwell.

Over the next four decades, Baker continued to collect, and the RISD Museum had numerous occasions to celebrate his passion for contemporary art. In 1997, Baker's gifts were the focus of an exhibition that honored his generosity to RISD and his long involvement as a member of the Museum's Fine Arts Committee. His love of British art is demonstrated by David Hockney's exuberant Plastic Tree Plus City Hall and Ben Nicholson's enigmatic Nov. 55 (Deep Persian Lilac), two of hundreds of works of art that have been given to RISD by Baker.