Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Walter Emerson Baum
"Christmas Time, Sellersville"

c. 1930

About the Item

Jim’s of Lambertville Fine Art Gallery is proud to present this piece by Walter Emerson Baum (1884 - 1956). Born in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, Walter Baum was one of the only members of the New Hope Art Colony actually born in Bucks County. Greatly inspired by the painters of the original “New Hope School”, Baum had an extremely profound impact on artistic development throughout the Delaware Valley. As an artist, there was no other to even come close in matching his highly prolific artistic production. His works were admired by both collectors and aspiring artists. His involvement in establishing an art school and museum in Allentown would have an enormous influence on what would become one of the largest artistic communities in the United States. It was not until the age of twenty that Baum would begin his art studies first privately with William Trego, a respected local painter, followed by his enrollment to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where his instructors included Thomas Anshutz and Daniel Garber. He was awarded the Jennie Sesnan Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Academy in 1925. Baum taught summer classes for the public schools of Allentown in 1926. The immense popularity of these classes would eventually lead to Baum co-founding the Kline-Baum School of Art in 1929 (later renamed the Baum School of Art). Baum also helped found the Allentown Art Museum in 1936, the Lehigh Art Alliance and the Circulating Picture Club. Baum wrote over five hundred reviews for the Philadelphia Bulletin as wells as Two Hundred Years, a study of the Pennsylvania Germans and their heritage. Baum did much to enrich the cultural environments of eastern Pennsylvania’s past. He received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Lehigh University in 1946. During his long career, Baum worked in several mediums and painted in various styles. Many of his earlier works are magnificent impressionist landscapes of Bucks County and the Lehigh Valley showing the strong influence of Redfield and Schofield. Baum developed friendships with Schofield and Garber which deepened his appreciation for the regional landscape. In the late 1940s into 1950s, Baum’s style of painting changed completely, taking on modernist qualities similar to that of the French Post-Impressionist painters. These later works usually depict urban views of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton as well as figurative works, still lifes and scenes portraying the students in his art classes and studio. Baum actively taught art and promoted artists throughout his life. As art editor of the Pennsylvania Bulletin, he wrote hundreds of reviews. While he is known for his larger works, Baum painted over a thousand pictures of smaller sizes including extremely detailed 4 x 6-inch miniature landscapes. He would often paint the same scene again and again. Because of his unusually strong work ethic, not all of his many paintings are representative of his potential greatness. When studying his work, it is not uncommon to see several similar views of fair quality and then come upon a fine execution of the same scene. Great painters did not always paint great paintings, and when one was as prolific as Baum, this should be remembered and understood. There has always been a cloud cast upon Baum’s work by less knowledgeable collectors regarding forgeries and paintings finished and signed by the artist’s son. Granted, there are a lot of fake paintings bearing his name, but whether or not his son painted or signed them remains to be seen, but if a painting even looks remotely questionable, it is likely to be at best, of poor quality, and worst case a fake. Either or, this is not the kind of painting a collector should consider buying at any price. A Baum painting of investment quality will look like a fine painting and will not cast any doubt upon the trained eye.
  • Creator:
    Walter Emerson Baum (1884-1956, American)
  • Creation Year:
    c. 1930
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 32 in (81.28 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Lambertville, NJ
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: JOL1119220251stDibs: LU37412374202

More From This Seller

View All
"Yard Work, Stockton, NJ"
By Alexander Farnham
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower right. Complemented by a hand carved and gilt frame. Alexander Farnham (b.1926) Alexander Farnham studied with Anne Steele Marsh, Van Deering Perrine, and at the Art Students League with George Bridgman...
Category

1950s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

"Snow Covered Village"
By Walter Emerson Baum
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower left. Complemented by a hand carved and gilt frame. Walter Emerson Baum (1884 - 1956) Born in Sellersville, Pe...
Category

1930s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

"Hillside Farm, Autumn"
By Kenneth R. Nunamaker
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower right. Complemented by a hand carved and gilt frame. Kenneth Nunamaker (1890 - 1957) Kenneth R. Nunamaker was ...
Category

20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

"Trees Along the River"
By John Fulton Folinsbee
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Jim’s of Lambertville Fine Art Gallery is proud to present this piece by John Fulton Folinsbee (1892 - 1972). One of the finest painters to embark upon the New Hope Art Colony, John...
Category

1930s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

"The Auction"
By Robert Spencer
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Robert Spencer (1879 - 1931) One of the rarest and most important artists among the New Hope School, Robert Spencer was bor...
Category

1910s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

"Buttonwood Inn"
By Joseph Barrett
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Joseph Barrett (b. 1936) Joseph Barrett was born in Midland, North Carolina, in 1936 and studied at the Massachusetts Colle...
Category

20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like

Fishing Boats in St Ives Harbor Cornwall. Early 20thC Impressionist Oil Painting
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
Grant Tyson Reynard. American ( b.1887-1968 ). Fishing Boats in St Ives Harbor, Cornwall Oil on Canvas Board. Signed Lower Left. Image size 11 inches x 15.6 inches ( 28cm x 39.5cm ). Frame size 14.2 inches x 18.1 inches ( 36cm x 46cm ). Available for sale; this original oil painting is by the American artist Grant Tyson Reynard and dates from the period between 1912 and 1925. The painting is presented and supplied in a sympathetic contemporary frame (which is shown in these photographs), and behind premium anti-reflective glass with UV protection greater than 70% (Artglass AR 70™). The painted surface has benefitted from cleaning and conservation, which was performed on our instruction, supervision and approval. This antique painting is in very good condition, commensurate with its age. It wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display. The painting is signed lower left. Grant Tyson Reynard was an accomplished American who gained an international reputation as a painter, printmaker, teacher and writer. He was born in Grand Island, Nebraska 20th October 1887 to Stephen Blackstone and Jennie Lynd Reynard. His father ran a music store and was also the manager of the Grand Island Opera House. As a youngster Grant would sketch the well-known people who visited the community. He had an early appreciation of music, sang well and originally trained as a pianist. However, he chose to pursue a career in the visual arts, studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1906-7, working in the days and studying at night, and then the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts 1908-1911. In 1914 he moved to New Jersey to become a freelance illustrator, and attended summer classes in illustration organised by Harvey Dunn. It was here that he also met and became lifelong friends with John Steuart Curry, Charles Chapman, Mahonri Young and Harry Wickey, all prominent artists. He maintained a studio at Leonia, New Jersey for many years. He quickly established himself as a top illustrator, contributing to major publications of his day, including Rednook Magazine (where he was also the Art Editor), The Saturday Evening Post, Harper’s Bazaar, Collier’s, Ladies’ Home Journal, Country Gentleman, McCalls and Cosmopolitan. His increasing interest in painting and etching took him to the chief centres of study in Europe, especially Paris and London. From 1926 through to 1937 he was a fellow of the MacDowell colony in Petersborough, New Hampshire. Reynard was elected a member of the National Academy of Design and the American Watercolor Society. He was the president of the Montclair Art Museum, and served six years on the faculty of the Grand Central School of Art, New York. He also conducted the Department of Art at Millbrook School, Millbrock, New York, and was artist-in-residence at Palo Duro School of Art in Texas. In 1955 Baldwin-Wallace College awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD). Over the years Reynard’s focus shifted from illustration work to his own creative work, but in addition to producing his own art he also lectured in art and taught at several difference schools. Although he travelled extensively he remained loyal to his roots, returning to Nebraska every summer to conduct lectures and art classes in Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney and North Platte. In 1941 Reynard published a book of his poems “Rattling Home for Christmas” which he also illustrated. He remained deeply involved in music, always being a skilled pianist, as well as literature, and his prints often depicted concert halls and museums. Grant Reynard...
Category

Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Other Side of Town
By Anthony Thieme
Located in Milford, NH
This colorful impressionist street scene possibly heading toward Pigeon Cove in Rockport was painted by well-known Dutch / American artist Anthony Thieme (188...
Category

Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Empty Barn - California Country Scene Oil on Canvas
Located in Soquel, CA
The Empty Barn - California Country Scene Oil on Canvas American Impressionist oil painting of a vacant wooden barn along the hillside. A wooden barn acts as the focal point, with ...
Category

1960s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Reflections, American Impressionist Landscape by Stream, Oil on Canvas
By Albert Van Nesse Greene
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Reflections" is an Impressionist landscape by American painter Albert Van Nesse Greene. The painting is a 13" x 16" oil on canvas, framed in a white gold reproduction frame, signed and dated "A V...
Category

Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

San Gabriel Mountains in Autumn Landscape California School 1930s
Located in Soquel, CA
Beautiful California plein air painting of San Gabriel Mountains in autumn with iconic Sycamore tree in foreground. Circa 1960. Unsigned. Presented in vintage gilt-toned carved wood frame. Image size: 10"H x 14"W. The San Gabriel Mountains have inspired many famous plein air painters including Hanson Puthuff, Marion Kavanagh Wachtel, Maurice Braun...
Category

1960s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Cardboard, Oil

Thick Outside
By Tod Lindenmuth
Located in Milford, NH
A fine Cape Cod scene with fisherman heading out on the dock in heavy fog by American artist Tod Lindenmuth (1885-1976). Lindenmuth was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and later worked in Provincetown and Rockport, Massachusetts, with a home in St. Augustine. A founder of the Provincetown Art Association and one of the original Provincetown Printers, Lindenmuth was a semi-abstract painter and graphic artist who did much to promote modernist styles and was well known for his modernist, semi-abstract and marine subject paintings. Lindenmuth studied with Robert Henri and was a member of the Salmagundi Club and the Rockport Art Association. He was also active in Provincetown until 1941, and then retired to Florida in the 1960s, having spent his winters there since the 1930s. Oil on canvas, signed lower right, title inscribed on verso Provincetown Art Association Regular Jury 1938 label “Thick Outside...
Category

1930s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Recently Viewed

View All