This post builds upon a recent post regarding some acquisitions under Quirk and focuses on Walter Emerson Baum.
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| Baum School Publication featuring its Leader |
According to an article in the Pocono Record on March 4, 1966, Francis Quirk announced the acquisition of three new works for the collection.
Three new oil paintings had been added to Lehigh University’s permanent collection, announced Dr. Francis J. Quirk, head of the fine arts department.
The new acquisitions, which would be part of the Edward K. Driebe Collection, included “Studio Interior” by Walter E. Baum, “Courtship of the Snowy Owl” by Sterling Strauser and “Across the Hudson” by A. Mark Datz. Edward K. Driebe was a successful businessman who capitalized on the growing market for frozen vegetables and in 1997 became a member of the Frozen Food Hall of Fame joining Clarence Birdseye, Vernon Stouffer and Murray Lender.
Thanks to the fine work of Mark and Rachel at the Lehigh University Art Galleries, we have the image of the acquired Baum work below.
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| Walter Emerson Baum (American, 1884-1956), Studio Interior, mid 20th century, Oil on board, Gift of Edward K. and Mary R. Driebe, LUP 66 1004, Lehigh University Art Galleries |
Walter Emerson Baum (December 14, 1884 – July 12, 1956) was an American impressionist painter and educator active in the Bucks and Lehigh County areas of Pennsylvania. In addition to being a prolific painter, Baum was founded of the Baum School of Art and the Allentown Art Museum.
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| Walter Baum in his studio. |
Baum was born in Sellersville, Pennsylvania and is one of the few Pennsylvania impressionists from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Between 1904 and 1909, Baum studied with William B. T. Trego, taking lessons at Trego's home in North Wales, Pennsylvania, about 15 miles south of his native Sellersville. Trego was a well-respected painter who had studied under Thomas Eakins and at the Academy Julian in Paris.
In 1905 and 1906 Baum attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia iwhere he studied with Thomas Pollock Anshutz, Hugh H. Breckenridge, William Merritt Chase, and Cecilia Beaux. (BTW- Cecilia Beaux was an amazing painter and the first woman to be on the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.)
While we have found no direct link with Francis Quirk, given that they both were involved with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Woodmere Museum, several other organizations, and were in close geographic proximity the two must have known each other.
Faced with the responsibilities of a wife and four children, Marian, Ruth, Robert and Edgar, Baum took odd jobs to support his family. He worked in the family's barbershop, and worked as a photographer for The Poultry Item, a magazine which focused on chickens, ducks, and geese. He also wrote for the Sellersville, Pennsylvania-based newspaper, the Sellersville Herald, and was appointed its editor in 1921; he wrote columns for the paper until 1942. As his paintings became better known, from 1926 to 1956 he taught art classes at his home in Sellersville and at the local high school.
His students included John E. Berninger, Karl Buesgen, Joseph Gehringer, Walter Mattern, and Melville Stark. "The Baum Circle" refers to the artists either taught by, associated with, or directly influenced by Baum. In October 2006, the David E. Rodale Gallery at the Baum School of Art in Allentown, Pennsylvania held an exhibition celebrating the work of this group.
Baum also became involved in illustration. His first cover appeared in Curtis Publishing Company's Country Gentleman magazine in January 1931. Curtis Publishing is best known for the Saturday Evening Post and their long relationship with Norman Rockwell who painted many covers illustrations. In 1948, Baum provided illustrations and an introductory essay for the Selected Short Stories of Thomas Hardy (published by Rodale, Inc., Emmaus, Pennsylvania).
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| Country Gentleman Cover by Walter Emerson Baum |
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| Country Gentleman Cover by Walter Emerson Baum |
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| Country Gentleman Cover by Walter Emerson Baum |
In May 1933, Baum's first one-man show opened at the McClees Gallery in Philadelphia. He exhibited thirty-eight works completed between 1930-33 mostly landscapes.
Baum also worked as an art critic and reviewer for the Philadelphia Evening and Sunday Bulletin, a position in which, as an artist himself, he was able to bring a unique perspective that became popular with readers. In this role, he was also able to promote local art and artists. During the Great Depression, a period during which artists found it extremely difficult to find work, his column was important in keeping the vibrant Philadelphia art community active and informed.
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| City (Allentown) by Walter Emerson Baum |
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| Winter Creek by Walter Emerson Baum |
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| Road Across the Creek 1926 Walter Emerson Baum |
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| Tamaqua Walter Emerson Baum |
In reviewing the works of Baum, he used a bright palate, and two types of paintings were most common. The first being the flowing river in which the viewer's eye tends to travel up the stream. In the works he executed for Country Gentlemen, he rewarded the viewer for following the journey with a structure at the end.
The second is the collection of buildings in a semi-urban setting. These are not city paintings, but more small-town paintings with urban elements. They reflect the towns and cities of the Lehigh Valley. They have an endearing quality. In these he substitutes a road for the river and the viewer's eye follows it into the painting.
Paraphrasing a review from a gallery who actively deals in his works. He had an unusually strong work ethic not all of his many paintings are representative of his potential greatness. When looking at his oeuvre, 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. This same comment could be made of Pablo Picasso who frequently did not even complete his canvases and Claude Monet, who was cranking out a water lily painting per week in his later days. He put out a stunning 250 of them! There also is a cloud around Baum’s work by less knowledgeable collectors regarding forgeries and paintings finished and signed by the artist’s son.
It is worth noting that technically, he could be a very good painter. And his fine works are truly so.
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| Ridge Valley Churches by Walter Emerson Baum |
Allentown Art Museum
The Allentown Art Gallery was organized by Baum and opened in Allentown's Hunsicker School on March 17, 1934. With seventy canvases by local Pennsylvania impressionist artists on display, the gallery attracted major attention from the local and regional art communities. During the Great Depression, Baum was able to grow the collection through the Public Works of Art Project and through acquisitions and gifts. In June 1936, the City of Allentown granted the museum a permanent home in a Federal-style house located in the Rose Garden in Allentown's Cedar Park. The museum's first curator was local artist and former student John E. Berninger.
Baum's lasting name provides three lessons for the nascent artist seeking fame and immortality.
1. Be prolific- There has to be a significant amount of your work in the marketplace for you to develop a following and an aftermarket. If your work only rarely comes to auction, then it is hard to maintain personal brand awareness. Perhaps Warhol did this best by having employees turn out a silkscreen image multiple times in a variety of colors. Contemporary artist Alex Katz seems to have images in almost every museum.
2. Be involved- Baum was involved in the art community participating in the creation of the Bucks County Traveling Art Program, the Baum School, and the Allentown Art Museum. He also kept his name in the press.
3. Start by developing your talent- then find your style. Looking at Baum's early work's one can see technical skill. After nailing that he found his niche. The early works of Picasso at the Museum in Barcelona show mastery of the brush. We all know what he did later.
