William Bliss Baker

He completed more than 130 paintings, including several in black and white. At age 26, Baker was just beginning to hit his stride as a landscape painter when he died at his father's house at Hoosick Falls, New York.

• Born — November 27, 1859 • Birthplace — New York City, US • Died — 20 November 1886 • Place of death — Hoosick Falls, New York, US • Field — Painting • Training — M.F.H. de Haas Albert Bierstadt • Movement — * Hudson River School • Realism • Works — Fallen Monarchs Morning After the Snow • Awards — Elliott Prize for Drawing (1879) Third Hallgarten Prize (1884)

Baker was born November 27, 1859, in New York City, the son of Yale alumnus Benjamin Franklin Baker (b. 1834) and Harriette Luisa Bayeux (married 1857). Harriette was descended from well-to-do Huguenots who moved from France to New York before the American Revolutionary War. Benjamin's father was Ellis Baker (1793–1873), director of the Albany City Bank, Albany Mutual Insurance Company, and People's Line Steamboats, as well as founder of Albany Rural Cemetery and Albany Hospital. He also operated stagecoach lines from Albany to Boston as well as north and west of Albany. Benjamin served during the American Civil War as a colonel in the 43rd Regiment of the New York State Volunteers. Later, he commanded the Light Division of Sixth Corps (part of the Army of the Potomac) as a Brevet Brigadier General. He was noted for his bravery during the charge at Marye's Heights during the Battle of Fredericksburg. After the war, he joined the Loyal Legion, then served as a member of the New York State Assembly from 1880 to 1882. William's best-known brother was Captain Guy Ellis Baker (b. 1858), who married Louisa Irene Palma Di Cesnola, daughter of Civil War Medal of Honor recipient General Louis Palma di Cesnola. His other brothers included Benjamin Henry (b. 1869), George Clinton (b. 1872), and Ashley Bayeux (b. 1877). Baker spent much of his boyhood in the town of Ballston Spa, and his family discovered and purchased the property where he would build his summer studio, "The Castle", on the shores Ballston Lake.

For four years beginning in 1876, Baker studied at the National Academy of Design, where he studied with Albert Bierstadt and Mauritz F. H. de Haas. In 1879, he won the Elliott prize during his first exhibit. In 1885, Baker won the Hallgarten Prize for his Woodland Brook. By 1881, Baker had built a summer studio named "The Castle" on the east side of Ballston Lake in the town of Clifton Park, north of Albany, New York. The studio was designed to have excellent views of the Catskill and Berkshire Mountains, and had excellent natural lighting. The Clifton Park Historic Preservation Commission awarded "The Castle" its Historic Designation plaque, and a "Clifton Park Register of Historic Places" sign also marks the studio property. The home is now a private residence, and it is not open to the public. Baker also had a studio in the Knickerbocker Building in New York City.

• Illustration — Baker's headstone in Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York Baker was just beginning to hit his stride as a landscape painter in the Realism movement when he died on November 20, 1886 at the age of 26 of a cold at his father's house at Hoosick Falls, New York, after sustaining injuries while ice skating. His final completed work was Meadow Brook. Baker completed over 130 paintings during his career. A contemporary art critic said that his death was "a distinct loss to American art". The New York Times stated that his death "deprived America of one of its most promising artists." Harper's Weekly stated that "[t]he tidings of this young artist's untimely death... will be received with sincere regret by all those who take an intelligent interest in the growth of native American art." The New York Post wrote that "[t]he young artist was animated by an intense love of nature, which he manifested from his earliest years, and this, aided by his great industry and energy, was among the chief elements of his success in the line of art he had chosen. His untimely death will be deeply regretted by all who take an intelligent interest in American artistic progress." He is buried in a family plot in Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York (see image, right).

• Illustration — Fallen Monarchs (1886), considered Baker's masterpiece. Baker was awarded the 1884 Third Hallgarten Prize by the National Academy of Design for A Woodland Brook. Fallen Monarchs, considered to be Baker's masterpiece, was painted in 1886 in the Ballston Lake area. The original is owned by Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where it hangs in the BYU Museum of Art. A small copy of this painting hangs in the public library in the town of Ballston. His 1883 painting, A Pleasant Day at Lake George hangs in the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York. Another of his paintings, Morning After the Snow, sold for $5,000 in 1887 (the equivalent of about $109,000 in 2006 dollars). Morning and an additional 129 of his paintings sold at that auction for a combined total of nearly $15,000 (almost $360,000 in 2010 dollars).

• Illustration — Dark Forest, a black and white oil painting completed ca.1880. Listed alphabetically by title. • The Brook (date unknown) • Cattle Grazing Near a Stream Through the Pasture (date unknown) • Dark Forest (c. 1880, 24" x 20", oil on canvas) • Morning in the Meadows (c. 1883) • Snow Scene (date unknown, 12 x 9 inches) • Wood Interior (date unknown, 8 x 11 inches) • Wood Interior (date unknown, 17.5 x 21.5 inches)

• Illustration — Hiding in the Haycocks, 1881 • Illustration — Landscape: Grez, ca. 1882 • Illustration — Engraving of Silence, 1883 (from Art of the World, Volume 6 (1893)) • Illustration — Shadows in a Pool, date unknown • Illustration — Woodland Scene, 1885 • Date known:Listed alphabetically by year. Current location listed (if known). • River View (1877) • Deep in the Woods (1880) • Hiding in the Haycocks (1881, housed in the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art) • Landscape: Grez (ca.1882, housed as part of the Horace C. Henry Collection at the Henry Art Gallery at University of Washington) • New York Harbour (1883) • A Pleasant Day at Lake George (1883, housed in the Adirondack Experience: The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, Blue Mountain Lake, New York) • Silence (1883, 24 x 30 inches) • View of New York Harbor, with Brooklyn Bridge in the Distance (1883) • October Morning (1884) • First Fall of Snow (1884) • First Snow of Winter (1884) • Summer Evening (ca.1884) • Woodland Brook (ca.1884-1885, housed at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Montréal) • Lake Luzerne (ca.1885) • Morning After the Snow (1885, 57 x 39 inches, housed in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, St. Bonaventure University) • Woodland Scene (1885, 38 x 50 inches, housed at the Avery Galleries, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) • Fallen Monarchs (1886, housed in the Museum of Art at Brigham Young University) • Under the Apple Trees (1886, 36 x 24 inches) • Meadow Brook (ca.1886, 21 x 16 inches, his last completed work) • Date unknown:Listed alphabetically by title. • Apple Blossoms (12 x 8 inches) • Apple Blossoms (20 x 12 inches) • Apple Trees (12 x 20 inches) • April Day (23.5 x 14 inches) • April Snow (36 x 20 inches) • Autumn (11.5 x 9.5 inches) • Autumn Forest Landscape • Autumn in Woods • Autumn Leaves (12 x 20 inches) • Autumn Study (20 x 12 inches) • Autumn Trees by Stream • Autumn Woods (22 x 13 inches) • Autumn Woods (20.5 x 12 inches) • Autumn Woods (12.5 x 8.5 inches) • Autumn Woods (22 x 30 inches) • Banks of Schoharie (19.5 x 18.5 inches) • Banks of the Schoharie (14 x 10 inches) • Bed of a Brook (12 x 19 inches) • Bed of Brook (12 x 19 inches) • Bed of Brook Morse Mountain, Adirondacks (12 x 17.5 inches) • Branches of Elm (21 x 29 inches) • Brook and Pasture (20 x 12 inches) • Brook and Woods (12 x 20 inches) • Catskill Clove (12 x 10 inches) • Church Beyond a Meadow • Clump of Trees (11.5 x 19.5 inches) • Clover Field (12.5 x 19 inches) • A Cool Retreat (29 x 22 inches) • Corn Fields and Pasture (12 x 9.5 inches) • Corn Stalks (12 x 20 inches) • Cows Watering in a Pond • Daisies (12 x 20 inches) • Dead Leaves (12.5 x 19.5 inches) • Dried Up (12 x 9.5 inches) • Early Autumn (20 x 28 inches) • Edge of the Creek (19 x 11.5 inches) • Edge of the Woods (17 x 12 inches) • An Elm (12 x 20 inches) • Fallen (A Study) (22.5 x 13.5 inches) • A Forest Glade (12.5 x 10 inches) • Forest Road (12 x 20 inches) • Forest Sunshine (12.5 x 9 inches) • Fort Lee, Hudson River (size unknown inches) • Gathering Chestnuts (12 x 19.5 inches) • Golden Rod (12 x 20 inches) • Harvest Study (12 x 8.5 inches) • Harvest Time (12.5 x 9.5 inches) • Haycocks (11.5 x 9 inches) • A Haze (11.5 x 8 inches) • In the Hayfield (12 x 9 inches) • In the Old Pasture • June (28 x 14 inches) • June Pastures (12 x 19.5 inches) • June Sunshine (22.5 x 15.5 inches) • Landscape (14 x 22 inches) • Landscape (19.5 x 13.5 inches) • Landscape (22.5 x 13 inches) • Landscape with Cattle • Lowlands (12 x 7 inches) • Marine • Meadow and Woodland (12 x 10 inches) • Mossy Stumps (12 x 10 inches) • Mountain Top (20 x 13 inches) • New York Harbor, City Front (19 x 7 inches) • Old Mill Pond (12 x 20 inches) • Opening in Woods (16 x 10 inches) • The Old Orchard (13.5 x 22.5 inches) • Old Stump (12 x 9.5 inches) • Orchard in June (12 x 16 inches) • Outlet of a Lake (19 x 13 inches) • Pasture (20 x 12 inches) • Pasture (18 x 14 inches) • Pasture (12 x 10 inches) • Pasture (12.5 x 10 inches) • Pool and Meadow (12 x 10 inches) • Pool and Upland (12 x 20 inches) • Quiet Pond • A Quiet Pond, Connecticut • Quiet Winter Afternoon • The Roadside (20 x 12 inches) • Rock Study, North Shore, Lake Ontario (18 x 12 inches) • Rocky Pool (10 x 13 inches) • Rough Pasture (12 x 9 inches) • Schoharie Creek (19.75 x 14 inches) • Second Growth Timber (12.5 x 9.5 inches) • The Sentinel (12 x 20 inches) • Shadows in a Pool • Shadows in the Pool (12 x 10 inches) • Shady Pool (12 x 19 inches) • Sheep Pasture (13 x 10.5 inches) • Snarled Roots (18 x 11 inches) • Snow (6.5 x 10.5 inches) • Snow Scene (42 x 30 inches) • Solitude (50 x 38 inches) • Spring Pasture (12.5 x 9.25 inches) • Standing Grass (12 x 10 inches) • Still Pool in the Woods (19.5 x 12 inches) • Study of Autumn Leaves (12 x 10 inches) • Study of Ferns (12 x 10 inches) • Study of Ferns (#2, 12 x 10 inches) • Study of Forest (12 x 20 inches) • Study of Rocks and Fallen Timber (18 x 12 inches) • Study of Snow (14 x 20 inches) • Study of Tree (11.5 x 19.5 inches) • Study of Trees (11.5 x 18 inches) • Study of Trees (5.5 x 12.5 inches) • Study of Woods (10.5 x 13 inches) • Summer Afternoon • Summer Pasture (13 x 6.5 inches) • Summer Woodland (12 x 10 inches) • Sunlight in the Woods (14 x 11.5 inches) • Sunlit Brook (12 x 19 inches) • Sunlit Pastures (15 x 11 inches) • Sunny Brook (19.5 x 12 inches) • Sunrise on New York Harbor • Sunset (12.5 x 9 inches) • Surf (22 x 15 inches) • Surf (22.5 x 14 inches) • Timber Belt (20 x 12 inches) • Tree Top (12 x 20 inches) • Tree Trunks (12 x 20 inches) • Tree Trunks (14 x 12 inches) • Trees and Meadow (12 x 10 inches) • Under the Hill (12 x 9 inches) • Valley of Hudson from Catskills (12 x 10 inches) • Water Fall (12 x 20 inches) • Winter Forest (20 x 12 inches) • Winter Twilight (12 x 9 inches) • Wood Interior (22 x 13.5 inches) • Wood Interior (21 x 15.5 inches) • Wood Interior (22 x 30 inches) • Wood Interior (21 x 29 inches) • Wood Opening (11 x 19.5 inches) • Wooded Glade • Woodland Shade (12.5 x 10 inches) • Woodland Study (12.5 x 8.5 inches) • Woods in June (12 x 10 inches) • Young Cattle (15.5 x 12 inches) • Young Timber (12 x 10 inches)

William Bliss Baker is recorded as painter.