William Bliss Baker. William Bliss Baker was an 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 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.
The New York Times said that his death deprived America of one of its most promising artists. Baker was born November 27, 1859, in New York City, the son of Yale alumnus Benjamin Franklin Baker and Harriette Luisa Bayeux.
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, 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 as a Brevet Brigadier General. He was note