William Bliss Baker

Who was William Bliss Baker?

William Bliss Baker was an award-winning American artist who began painting just as the Hudson River school was winding down. Baker began his studies in 1876 at the National Academy of Design, where he studied with Bierstadt and de Haas. He later maintained studios in Clifton Park, New York, and New York City, where he painted in oils and watercolors. He completed more than 130 paintings, including several works in black and white.

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, at the age of 26. The New York Times said that his death "deprived America of one of its most promising artists."