William Jacob Baer

Background

Baer, William Jacob was born on January 29, 1860 in Cincinnati. Son of Henry and Barbara Baer.

Education

During the same period he attended an evening modeling class at the McMicken School of Design, taught by Louis Rebisso.

Career

Baer was a lithographer"s apprentice at Donaldson and Company in Cincinnati from 1876 to 1879. He continued his training in Munich at the Royal Academy from 1880 to 1884, studying oil painting with Ludwig Löfftz. In 1913, Baer was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member.

Upon his return to the United States, Baer settled into the Montclair, New Jersey art colony to continue his career as a genre, portrait painter and teacher.

Drake encouraged him to teach a class in engraving and black-and-white draftsmanship for illustrators. Class members were dubbed the "Carbonari".

In 1888 Baer became the instructor at Round Lake, New York, for summer classes at a Chautauqua-like cultural enterprise to which he remained attached until 1891. In 1893 he took over the classes at Chautauqua itself for several years.

In 1892 and ’93, he turned from figure painting to miniatures (both portraits and other subjects), initially under the patronage of Alfred Corning Clark, and soon Baer not only became the most renowned miniaturist in the country but also spearheaded the miniature-painting revival that began at that time.

He was the first president of the American Society of Miniature Painters, New New York Baer exhibited at the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893. He also was a regular exhibitor at the National Academy of Design, New York, the Chicago Art Institute and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Artist

Among his miniatures are "The Golden Hour", "Daphne", "In Arcadia" and "Madonna with the Auburn Hair".

In 1913, Baer was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member.

Achievements

• William Jacob Baer has been listed as a notable artist by Marquis Who's Who.

Membership

Member international

Connections

Married Laura Schwenk, 1885 (died July 1924). Married second, Mistress. Children: Ella Laura (Mistress Robert South. Mounce), Marian Ethel, Laura (Mistress John V. Breisky, deceased), Mildred (Mistress Doctorate. Herbert Smith, deceased).

Father:

Henry Baer

Mother:

Barbara Baer

Spouse:

Laura Schwenk

Spouse:

Mistress

child:

deceased) Baer

child:

Laura (Mistress John V. Breisky Baer

child:

Marian Ethel Baer

child:

Mildred (Mistress D. Herbert Smith Baer

child:

Ella Laura Baer (Mistress Robert South. Mounce)

References

• Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World’s Fair