Bucks County Landscape

One of the few Pennsylvania impressionists to actually be born in Bucks County, Walter Baum studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Among his earliest teachers were Thomas Anshutz, Hugh Breckenridge and William Merritt Chase.

This winter scene is typical of his work, with confident brushwork and suggestion of atmospheric effects. It depicts Green Street in the town of Sellersville, Pennsylvania where Baum was born in 1884. Like Redfield, winter was the season he favored most in his compositions. Baum was also known for his abilities as a teacher; he established a school of art in Allentown and was instrumental in founding the Allentown Art Museum in the 1930s.