The Life of William Baker To look at the history of New Zealand painting is to encounter the specific, grounded presence of William Baker. Born in Wellington in 1864, he operated within a distinct period of the country's developing visual identity. He was not a peripheral figure; his work remains part of the permanent record in collections like Te Papa. His full name, William George Baker, marks a life spent documenting the physical realities of the landscape and its people. Baker’s career was defined by a direct engagement with his surroundings. He did not rely on abstraction or grandiosit…