John Baker

"Imaginary Portrait of Empress Maria Theresa", contemporary, acrylic, collage

2019

John Baker’s “Young Debutante with a Mask of her Mother”, an acrylic painting with collage on canvas 25 x 21.75 inches in dusty lavenders, blues and pinks, is from the artist’s Mask Series...

John Baker’s “A Meeting in Rome II, an acrylic painting on canvas with collage, 29 x 27 inches, in cardinal red, lavenders, yellows and green, is part of the artist’s “divided self” ...

"QUEEN VICTORIA" is created and from acrylic and found objects on round MDF panel. It includes a photograph of a figure, pocket knife, beads, charms, and other unidentified objects in metal and wood. It is signed and dated along the lower edge. PROVENANCE: Exhibited in "Portals + Revelations: Richard J. Watson," the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Oct 2021 - Mar 2022. "Most of my works are supported by memories of the past and suggested realities. Issues of social politics, ancestral references, and astral projections are presented with fragmented elements of 'real life' collaged and collapsed, as dreams are prone to do. If connections are made, all the better. I feel that life should remind us of our dreams." - Richard J. Watson Richard J. Watson is an icon in the Philadelphia art world. Much of his work relates to his experiences as a Black African American man. He is a graduate of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1968), has taught at his alma mater, and has served in the Exhibitions Department at the African American Museum in Philadelphia since the 1980s. He has been exhibiting his work for decades, and has an extensive bibliography. His work is held in the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Temple University; the Uniworld Corporation; Sony; the Federal Reserve Bank; the City of Philadelphia; Sprint; the Church of the Advocate; the poet Dr. Sonia Sanchez; and the Woodmere Museum...