Lot Note:

Sledding in Winter belongs to the long run of snowbound village views that occupied Baum for decades. Born in Sellersville, he spent his career within miles of the subjects he painted, and he treated the town as a body of work to be returned to rather than a motif to be exhausted. Where contemporaries like Redfield pursued the sweep of the river and the weather, Baum was drawn to the settled community: the stone farmhouse, the painted clapboard, the red barn, and the road that connects them. The present lot is dated 1946, well into his maturity, and demonstrates the palette and confident handling he had by then made his own, with the snow built up as a tangible surface rather than a pale ground. The lone boy dragging a sled gives the scene its title and a modest narrative note, a kind of incident Baum favored over grand effects, and the artist's signature, lettered on the mailbox at the lower right, adds a wry touch in keeping with the scene's easy humor. His help to establish Allentown's Baum School of Art made him a teacher and civic figure as much as a painter, and works like this one reflect that rootedness, painted by someone who knew the place and its people.

Framed: 37 1/2 x 43 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.

Canvas is unlined. Minor deposits of surface dirt and dust. Craquelure present throughout, visible in raking light. Stretcher marks visible at all four edges. Under UV: Scattered strokes of inpainting, notable at extreme edges of work. Area of inpainting present at upper center in sky. Strokes of inpainting at lower center left in house and around figure. Additional images available upon request.

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