Leonard Bahr

Leonard Marion Bahr (May 12, 1905 – July 25, 1990) was an American portrait painter, muralist, illustrator and educator. He worked for many years as a painting professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).

Personal life Leonard Marion Bahr was born on May 12, 1905, in Maryland.

He married Florence E. Riefle, who had been a student at Maryland Institute (now Maryland Institute College of Art), in 1934 and they had three children, Beth, Leonard, and Mary. Leonard died July 25, 1990. of Daniel Carroll, which is now located on the first floor of the Maryland State House. and an altar painting of Christ at Gethsemane for Our Savior's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lansdowne, Maryland. He made an illustrated book of his drawings depicting the 23rd Psalm of David that was published in 1933.

Murals

Bahr painted murals for the Public Works of Art Project (1933–34). In 1934 he made the mural of Mary Caroll (Polly) Caton, daughter of lawyer, statesman and Continental Congress representative Charles Carroll. The mural entitled Arrival of Mary Carroll Caton at Castle Thunder was made for the Catonsville High School library. In it, she arrived at the Caton Manor Estate, which was her father's gift to her when she married Richard Caton. It is "presumedly" her husband who greeted her as she exited the carriage. The high school was renovated in the 1960s and the mural was lost in the process. The same year, he made Slaves Rolling Hogsheads of Tobacco Down a Road for the school's library. In it, slaves are rolling casks of tobacco to Elkridge Landing on Rolling Road. Historically slaves rolled the tobacco hogsheads from farms to the Elkridge Landing seaport on the Patapsco River where they would be shipped. A preliminary drawing for the library murals is held at the Smithsonian. He made two more murals for the Baltimore Municipal Aquarium at Druid Hill Park.

World War II His service as Lt. Commander in the Navy during World War II, included illustrating Navy life for various military magazines.

Other information In April 1933, Bahr exhibited at the first annual exhibition of the Maryland Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Leonard served on art boards and juries and exhibited his work widely, winning many prizes for his artistic eye. Articles about him or his works were published in American Artist, The Appalachian South, Gardens Houses and People, The Baltimore Sun Magazine, and the Baltimore Sun.

Maryland photographer Emily Hayden took a series of photographs of Bahr painting outdoors, which are in the Maryland Historical Society archives. In December 1980 and January 1981, Maryland Institute College of Art held a retrospective of his fifty years as a painter. In the 1980s he was filmed for a video entitled "A Painter's Portrait."

Educator Bahr taught beginning and advanced painting classes at the Maryland Institute College of Art for more than 50 years, beginning when he was an undergraduate. He taught day and night classes on the weekdays and Saturdays for much of his career. University of Arizona; the Peabody Conservatory of Music; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Corcoran Gallery of Art; and the Elkridge Heritage Society.

Works The following is a selected list of Bahr's works. There are images and information for dozens more works with the Maryland State Archives.

Portraits

Miss Ruth Baetjer, Union Memorial Hospital, 1974 Daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Willem Bosma, 1977, Private collection Daniel Carroll (1730-1796), oil on canvas, 48 x 38", 1975, Maryland State House, First Floor, Room 107 The Demuth Children, 1970, The H.E. Demuth Jr. Collection Ellen, 1974, Private collection May Garrettson Evans, (1866-1947), oil on canvas, 38 x 28", 1947, Peabody Art Collection. Florence, 1930 Mary, 1964 Mary in Robe, 1948, Private collection Nude in Wicker Chair, 1970 The Rt. Rev. Bishop Noble C. Powell, Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, 1963 Unknown Man, 1939 Lois Crawford Winslow, 1939 Norbert Witt, Noxell Corporation, 1973 The Seers: Ambrose & Olga Worrall, 1965

Landscapes

Locust Grove, 1980 Rain Squall and Sun, 1972 Rushing Water, 1955 Valley Landscape, 1970

Other works

Ballerina Resting Big Chair, 1978 Death and Transfiguration, 1965 Girl in Straw Hat Good Earth, 1952 Louisiana Belle, 1946 Pink House, 1936 Red Cloth, 1960