Christopher William Baker RBA (born 1956) is an English

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...

watercolourist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

, draughtsman and author from

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Career

Baker was educated at Kingham Hill School. He trained at

West Surrey College of Art and Design Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College (SIAD) was an Art school, art college in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2005. It was formed from the merger of West Surrey College of Art and Design (1969–1995) and Epsom School of Art and ...

and at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

, and has been the recipient of several awards and scholarships including a

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

Landscape Scholarship and an Arts Council Grant. He has exhibited extensively in the UK and Canada. Block House Morning Christopher W Baker

Baker has been a regular contributor to ''The Artist Magazine'' since 1987, and has contributed to art textbooks on painting technique. He played the part of an artist and painting tutor in Joanna Hogg's film ''

Archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

'', shot on

Tresco, Isles of Scilly Tresco () is the second-biggest island of the Isles of Scilly. It is in area, measuring about by . History In early times one group of islands was in the possession of a confederacy of hermits. Henry I of England, King Henry I gave it to Tavi ...

in 2009. It was shown at the 2010

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...

. and is released in the UK on 4 March 2011. He exhibited works that he produced during the shooting of the film in March 2011 at Flying Colours Gallery in London. Most recently Baker undertook a project called '64 Days' in which he set himself the routine of returning to the same place to draw and paint on Trundle Hill in

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

for an unbroken period from 25 January to 28 March 2012. Some of the works from this project along with other works were exhibited at the Medici Gallery in London in September 2012 in a joint exhibition with the artist Hugo Grenville. He is senior fine art tutor at

West Dean College West Dean College is situated in the West Dean Estate of West Dean near Chichester. The Estate was formerly the home of the poet and patron of the arts Edward James. He was an avid admirer of the Surrealist movement, and formed one of the la ...

and runs private courses through his School of Landscape Painting.

Style

His early work has been described as 'photo realist' in style, while his later works of predominantly landscape subjects are in the modern

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

or abstract style, showing the influence of previous British landscape painters who eschewed solid objects and detail in favour of expressing the spiritual elements of their subjects, such as

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...

.
'

University of Warwick Art Catalogue A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

''. Retrieved 16 February 2011.

Awards and Scholarships

*2003 Expedition to Antarctica, Wolfers O’Neil Foundation *2002,

British Arts Council The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (la ...

Major Award *2000 South East Arts Award *Canadian Arts Council *1988 Portsmouth Museum of Art, Travelling Exhibition *Laing National Exhibition, Mall Galleries, Prize Winner *1977

Landscape Scholarship *The David Murray Landscape Scholarship

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Christopher W. 1956 births Living people 20th-century English painters 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English painters 21st-century English male artists Alumni of the University for the Creative Arts Alumni of the University of Exeter Artists from Sussex English male painters People educated at Kingham Hill School