The Lawrence Baker Gallery was established in loving memory by Lawrence's youngest daughter, Nancy Baker, in 2005. The goal is to spread to others the overwhelming enjoyment his paintings bring to his patrons, friends and family through this web site and our affiliates. While his original paintings are owned by private collectors, prints and reproductions of certain pieces are now available.

Born in Boston in 1930 and raised in Lexington, MA, Lawrence and his family spent the summers of his youth in Grantham, NH and Freeport, ME. He married his wife, Margaret, and raised four children in Waltham, MA. 

Professionally, he was an optical craftsman who polished sophisticated lenses for telescopes designed for space exploration and national defense.   His hobby, of course, was painting.  A rare degenerative nerve disease forced him to retire in 1987 but thankfully allowed him to continue painting for many years.

Lawrence perfected his realist technique in oils without any formal education. His methodical painting style is sometimes compared to the works of Andrew Wyeth and Norman Rockwell.

Lawrence really focused his paintings on things that seemed to have beauty and meaning - an old barn, a used car, a beautiful landscape or children playing. His work captured and preserved the character of his subjects, and his attention to detail was meticulous. Every leaf on a tree was painted exactly as he saw it, every blade of grass was shown, and no two bricks on a wall or shingles on a barn were the same. If there was a window, he would paint the reflection in the glass and what was behind it. If there was a painting inside an antique shop, he'd paint that too!

Lawrence had the amazing ability to combine different objects from various locations into a single painting. For example, the painting "The Crossing" was of his 88 year old father-in-law, who actually posed for this painting by leaning against the cellar door of his Waltham, MA home.  The railroad tracks are in Brunswick Maine, and the crossing shack is in downtown Waltham.  Where the background came from, we're not quite sure.  Most paintings took months to complete to ensure the exact effect was obtained.

Lawrence’s artwork is in demand. While complications from his physical disability took him from us in 2004, his spirit and talent live on.  (Lawrence Baker 1930-2004)