Made in the UK at The Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design

23 September - 8 January '12

Providence, Rhode Island

The Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design highlights its extraordinary collection of contemporary British art in a major exhibition this fall. Made in the UK: Contemporary Art from the Richard Brown Baker Collection richly captures Britain's contemporary art scene as it emerged from World War II to become a prominent force on the world stage today.

Made in the UK celebrates works by British artists from the 1950s through the present and includes such major figures as Tacita Dean, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Anish Kapoor, Jim Lambie, Julian Opie, Bridget Riley, and Yinka Shonibare.

Many of the artists in the exhibition are represented at the Tate and other important British collections, but are not seen in depth in American museums. This exhibition of approximately 100 paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, and more, focuses on Baker’s collecting, decade by decade—revealing important British contributions to and the international nature of Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Geometric Abstraction, Optical Art, and Photorealism. It culminates in conceptual works by the Young British Artists (YBAs)—including Jake and Dinos Chapman, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread—who took the art world by storm in the 1990s and are still highly influential today.

Made in the UK is co-curated by Jan Howard, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, and Judith Tannenbaum, Richard Brown Baker Curator of Contemporary Art.

“Richard Brown Baker possessed a daring and finely-tuned eye for collecting works by gifted young artists on the verge of success,” says Museum Director John Smith. “He not only donated outstanding works of art to the Museum, but also provided acquisition funds to allow us to build on his remarkable legacy. Thanks to his generosity, the RISD Museum’s collection of contemporary British art is one of the finest in the United States.”