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Director's Note Walter Baum is of particular interest to me since he has been an artist whose work I have studied for some time. I have appraised many works by Baum and members of his circle, curated exhibitions including his paintings, works on paper, and miniatures as well as contributed to publications about the Bucks County painter. Baum, like Claude Monet, was an extremely prolific painter and truly beloved.
The Little Stone House was featured in an article written by Dr. Lori titled "Bucks County Artists" which appeared in the December 2000 issue of the art journal, American Art Review. In the context of his long career, Baum is of interest not only as a professional artist and art advocate, but as a respected and talented person. I first came to know about Baum's work in graduate school as an American art specialist. Baum, who had a great impact on American art, was an important and fascinating American painter and member of the prestigious and popular, New Hope School of Pennsylvania Impressionism. While a Curator at the Allentown Art Museum, where Baum taught art for nearly 40 years, the Walter Baum retrospective art exhibition was featured and while a Museum Director, I was proud to host other shows dedicated to this fine artist's work. Baum's exhibition record, numerous strong paintings, and his market value make him a master of the Pennsylvania painters. He was so important, even during his lifetime, that many artists tried to copy his style and forgeries are still evident and problematic for the Baum collector. However, as an art historian and proponent of fine art, there is no question in my mind, Baum is a major artist and certainly, one to watch. Please feel free to contact me with questions regarding the work of Walter Emerson Baum. You may view video of one of his works which includes my narration. Dr. Lori
Born in December of 1884, Walter Emerson Baum was a native of Sellersville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. One of the only Pennsylvania Impressionists to be born in historic Bucks County, Baum lived his entire life in Sellersville and captured its scenes often in oil on canvas. Baum's wife, Flora was a constant companion and often joined him on his painting outings. Baum remains most famous for the scenes of rural life drawn from painting outings in and around Bucks County and the Lehigh Valley in the 1920s and 1930s.
Mature Career Work: the 1920s-30s In terms of art collecting, Baum is best known for his mature compositions, particularly those depicting Bucks County landscapes and small rural houses that were executed in the 1920s. It is these pictures that demonstrate Baum at the height of his talent. The early to mature career paintings, particularly those of the 1920s and 1930s are undoubtedly Baum's finest works.
By the 1940s, Baum abandoned oil paint and started to experiment with the media of tempera and casein with less than wonderful results. It is evident that these post-1940 works did not consistently possess the same artistic style and visual prominence of his earlier oil paintings from the 1920s. While he was a very prolific painter and produced thousands of paintings, Baum's later work show his interest in establishing the Baum School of Art and working in a looser and less controlled style of brushwork. These late career paintings show a harder, light-reflective surface attention.
A skilled and beloved teacher, Baum painted with his students outdoors in the plein aire tradition of both the French and American Impressionists. A painter who captured the Pennsylvania landscape in an Impressionistic style, Baum was consistently inspired by the work of his fellow New Hope School painters, Edward Redfield, Daniel Garber, and George Sotter. His relationship with these artists helped to foster a second generation of New Hope School painters whose works are widely collected today.
Art Activities and Collections Walter Baum was a fellow of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Baum studied with William Trego from 1904-1910 and then, continued his studies at the Academy with Trego, Daniel Garber, and Thomas Anshutz in 1910. In 1925, at the pinnacle of his career, Baum won the prestigious Sesnan Gold Medal for his landscape composition called Sunlight and Shadow. The work is presently in the collection of the Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, PA. Walter Baum was an art editor and critic for the Philadelphia Evening and Sunday Bulletin. In 1938, he published a book on the Pennsylvania German heritage in Bucks and Lehigh Counties called, Two Hundred Years. Baum also painted scenes of historic Manayunk, areas of Bucks County, the streets of Allentown and Tamaqua, all in Pennsylvania. A founder of the Baum School of Art and the Allentown Art Museum, Baum was an art advocate and influential teacher. His works are included in major collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Toledo Art Museum, The Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy, The Michener Art Museum, and the Allentown Art Museum. Walter Baum died in his native Sellersville, PA at age 72.
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From the Director