Painter, curator, tutor and former window dresser was born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, son of a Baptist minister. He served in the Australian Imperial Force for six years during World War II seeing active service in New Guinea and the Middle East. In 1948-49 he attended the National Art School in Melbourne under Murray Griffiths as part of war service retraining.
He came to Perth in 1950 where he worked as a display designer and window dresser for ten years. He was one of a number of artists who supported themselves in this way. Brian McKay, Len Littman and Hugh Child were others. The stores; Aherns, Boans, Cox Bros. and Corots all employed artists to do this work.
Baker joined the Perth Society of Artists and in 1961 became Deputy Director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia and a part time tutor for Adult Education. He spent 1967-68 in Europe and returned to become the Curator of Painting at University of Western Australia, a position he held until 1975. He won the Fremantle Art Prize in 1961 and 1963, the Melville Acquisitive Award in 1977, the Hume Award in 1985, the Challenge Bank Prize in 1986 and the Mandorla Art Prize in 1988.
- Writers:
- Dr Dorothy Erickson
- Date written:
- 2010
- Last updated:
- 2011
