William Baptiste Baird Art
William Baptiste Baird was a well-known American painter of landscapes and genre scenes, who lived and exhibited almost exclusively in France and England. Born in Chicago in 1847, Baird began his professional artistic career in 1866 as a draftsman for a wood-engraver. At the same time, he studied painting and exhibited several of his small works in storefront windows. Baird’s inherent talent and his nascent career as a local artist caught the attention of two Chicagoan philanthropists, Mr. W. B. Howard and General John M. Corse, who provided the funds for Baird to travel and study in France for three years. Baird settled in Paris and studied at the studio of the Academic history painter Adolphe Yvon, whose monumental nationalistic military scenes were favored by Emperor Napoleon III during the Second French Empire. He began exhibiting at the Salon in 1872 with a historically themed genre scene entitled, Le retour du prisonnier (i). Baird quickly found much professional success in France, continuing to exhibit at the Salon for the next 20 years, especially peasant genre scenes and landscapes depicting the rural areas outside of Paris, such as the village of Barbizon and the Forest of Fontainebleau. Baird was a very versatile artist, and although he is known for his Barbizon-style landscapes and peasant genre scenes in France, the artist also exhibited in London and the United States. From 1877 to 1899, Baird exhibited Victorian-themed domestic genre scenes at the Royal Academy of Arts, including titles such as The Cares of a Family, “Catch me if you can,” Take Care! and Taking Life Easy. During the same years, he exhibited in Paris and London, Baird also participated in annual exhibitions in the United States. At the National Academy of Design in New York and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Baird exhibited pictures of cattle and poultry and cock-fighting scenes. These animal paintings were coveted by American collectors, including the Philadelphian Harrison Earl, who owned a series of five cock-fighting pictures. By 1879, Baird had settled into a studio in Paris at 3 rue d’Odessa in the neighborhood of Montparnasse. He last exhibited at the Salon and the Royal Academy of Arts in 1899 and died in Paris that same year. His artworks are a part of the collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; the Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, Florida; the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore; the Sheldon Swope Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana; the Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York; the Wright Museum of Art, Beloit College, Wisconsin; the Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota, Duluth, Minnesota and the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut.
1880s American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Canvas, Oil
1880s Victorian William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil
Late 19th Century American Realist William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil
Late 19th Century American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Board, Oil
Late 19th Century Victorian William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil
Late 19th Century American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil, Canvas
1960s American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil, Board
2010s American Realist William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil, Ceramic
19th Century Victorian William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil
Early 20th Century American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil, Canvas
2010s American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Canvas, Oil, Board
19th Century Victorian William Baptiste Baird Art
Canvas, Oil
20th Century American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil, Board
Artist Comments
"Togetherness is a wonderful place to be, and what better reflects a bond of love," says artist Jeff Fleming. He displays a touching portrait of a golden retriever mom affectionately posing with her puppy. Jeff begins with a pencil sketch and applies paint with his fingers, brushes, and string. He drizzles paint in random strokes to create an energetic composition brimming with splashes of color.
About the Artist
Artist Jeff Fleming uses fingerpainting to create exuberant portraits of dogs. Growing up in Southern California, Jeff was first introduced to fingerpainting in kindergarten. He painted through high school and college and won several art awards, including Best of Show in a city wide student competition. After graduating with a degree in journalism and advertising, he went to work as an art director. For the next 40 years, he created print, radio and television ads for a number of top agencies. "After retiring in 2019, the clouds of stress and pressure cleared and allowed me to set my creative energy free," says Jeff. He began developing new techniques focused on the excitement and energy of painting. Today, he uses a variety of methods and tools, including fingerpainting wearing nitrile gloves...
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil
Early 2000s American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Canvas, Oil, Board
1950s American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
Late 19th Century American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Board, Oil
1880s Barbizon School William Baptiste Baird Art
Canvas, Oil
1880s Victorian William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil
Mid-19th Century Barbizon School William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil
1890s Victorian William Baptiste Baird Art
Oil
19th Century American Barbizon School Antique William Baptiste Baird Art
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19th Century American Impressionist William Baptiste Baird Art
Canvas, Oil