BAKER, Bernard Frederick

1929 - 2021

Bernard Frederick Baker was born at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire in 1929, son of Revd Stanley Charles Albert Baker (17 November 1899-8 December 1961) and his wife Jessie née Hurdle (25 December 1896-25 July 1995), who married at Hackney, London in 1922 and in 1939 were living at The Hai Clabon Close, Norwich. Bernard studied at the Norwich School of Art and at the Birmingham School of Art. He moved to London where he entered the world of advertising to become a creative designer in a large advertising agency which he left to form a small group of designers and illustrators. Bernard married at Cambridge in 1954, Gwendolen Clarissa M. Darley (born 1934) and in 1962, together with his wife and children, Phillip, Mark and Zena, moved to the Old Lodge in Coddenham near Ipswich. He then decided to go solo, maintaining a studio in London, and working as an illustrator for commissions, publishers, and the Government through the Central Office of Information. A designer and illustrator and he painted Suffolk and Norfolk landscapes and particularly trees and skies, which he called 'Skyscapes' and his conti crayon portraits and acrylic paintings are hung on many walls both in and around Coddenham and his sketches fronted the parish magazine for many years. Bernard exhibited at the Ipswich Art Club from The Old Lodge, Coddenham in 1990, two pictures 'Innocence' and 'Emma'. During his 38 years at Coddenham he taught an extremely popular art class in the old village hall, a member of the local History Club since its beginning and a member of Coddenham Parish Council from 1968 and much involved in church affairs. In February 2000 they moved to Rebakas House, High Street, Rattlesden, Suffolk. Bernard Frederick Baker died at the West Suffolk Hospital on 14 January 2021.

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Works by This Artist