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Elisha Taylor Baker

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Elisha Taylor Baker
Elisha Taylor Baker Self Portrait, 1889.
Born
Elisha Taylor Baker

(1827-02-17)February 17, 1827
New York City, US
DiedAugust 21, 1890(1890-08-21) (aged 63)
Orange, Connecticut, US
Resting placeColchester, Connecticut, US
Known formarine art
Styleportraitist, luminist
SpouseAdelaide Brigg

Elisha Taylor Baker (February 17, 1827 – August 21, 1890) was an American marine artist from New York City. He was a ship portraitist, luminist and landscape painter. Baker painted full-rigged ships, yachts, steamboats and schooners. His works are in the art collections of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the Mariners' Museum and Park, and the Mystic Seaport Museum.

Early life

Baker was born in New York City on February 17, 1827. He is the first child of Elisha Avery Baker (1802-1859) and Laura Taylor (1806-1986). In 1832, the family moved to Colchester, Connecticut, to establish a retail fish business. By 1848, he was part owner of a 77-ton schooner Elisha A. Baker. On March 10, 1851, he married Adelaide Brigg in Hebron, Connecticut. They had no children.[1][2][3]

Early career

Baker spent some time at sea in 1851. He worked in New York City as a marine painter from 1868-1880. He traveled around New England painting full-rigged ships, yachts, steamboats and coasting schooners. He painted some landscapes and marine artwork. One of his paintings is a John Jacob Astor IV steam yacht Nourmahal (ca. 1884) off Cowes. A business card listed him as:

Elisha T. Baker

Marine Painter

315 Pearl & 104 South Sts., N.Y.[1]

Baker had two art styles of marine painting. One as a ship portraitist and the other as a luminist. He experimented with marine subjects at sunset, moonlight or in the fog. The Long Island Sound steamboat Elm City is an example of this work. He signed his paintings in various ways: "E. T. Baker", "E. Taylor Baker" "E. T. B." or "Baker". To date, a total of 24 of his paintings exist. 11 additional paintings have characteristics of his work but are unsigned.[1] Some are unsigned because the artist painted from the shore depicting pilot boats as they came in and out of New York harbor.

A surviving circa 1875 cloth-bound sketchbook exists with 34 pages with C. & R. Poillon's shipyard, Coney Island, landscapes, battlement towers, sloop at Sheepshead Bay, ice barge, Navesink Highlands, Plumb Island, Saybrook, fishing nets drying, harbors, Brooklyn Bridge tower unfinished, cityscapes with color notations, etc.[4]

His works are in the collections of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the Mariners' Museum and Park, and the Mystic Seaport Museum.[5]

List of artworks

List of works by Elisha Taylor Baker:

  • Madawaska Maid (1850), oil painting, Main schooner[6]
  • Travler (1861), oil on canvas, Long Island Sound steamer, signed E. T. B.[7]
  • Abraham Leggett (1866), oil painting, New York pilot boat, No. 4[8]
  • Coldstream (c. 1866), oil on canvas, unsigned[1]
  • Mary E. Hoxie (c. 1868) oil on canvas, unsigned[1]
  • New York Harbor near Castle Garden (1869), oil painting[9]
  • The Bella Crowell (1870) oil on canvas[10]
  • Early cutter with spinnaker (c. 1870) oil on canvas, signed E. Taylor Baker[11]
  • Elm City (1871), oil painting, Long Island Sound side-wheel steamboat[12]
  • Breezing Out (1873), oil on canvas[13]
  • Centennial (1876), oil on canvas, New Jersey pilot boat, No. 7, with Baker monogram[14]
  • Pet (1880), oil painting, New York pilot boat Pet, No. 9, unsigned[15]
  • Pet (1880), oil painting, pilot boat Pet, No. 9, with signature as "Baker" (private collection)
  • Seascape with Ships (1880), oil on canvas[16]
  • Nourmahal (1884), steam yacht for John Jacob Astor[1]
  • Whaleship George Passing the Groton Monument at New London, Connecticut (1885), oil on canvas, signed “E. Baker ’85”[17]
  • Unidentified steam yacht (1885), oil on canvas, signed with Baker monogram[1]
  • East River Scene (1886), oil on canvas, East River, Brooklyn, New York[18]
  • Shooting off the Lifeline (1889), oil on canvas[19]
  • James M. Waterbury (1890), oil on canvas, Sandy Hook pilot boat[20]
  • Sailboat, oil on canvas[21]
  • Schooner and Pilot Boat at Dusk, oil on canvas mounted on board[22]
  • Yachting, oil on canvas[23]
  • Two-master schooner G. Carmann, oil on canvas[24]
  • Tillie, oil on canvas[25]
  • Ships Arrival, oil on canvas[26]
  • Off Huntington Light, oil on academy board[27]
  • Glen Cove, Long Island Sound, oil on canvas[28]
  • Abby K. Bentley, oil on canvas, 3-masted schooner[29]
  • Sunrise from Chapman Dock and Old Brooklyn Navy Yard, East River, New York, oil on canvas[30]
  • Sloop Yacht Below Hudson Highlands, oil on canvas[31]
  • Race for the America's Cup, oil on canvas[32]
  • The Cora, oil on canvas[33]
  • Evening Encampment, oil on canvas[34]
  • Brigantine and Tug Entering Harbor at Dusk, oil on canvas[35]
  • Shipping by Moonlight, oil on canvas laid to board[36]
  • The yacht Stranger of the New York Yacht Club off Execution Lighthouse, oil on canvas[37]
  • Tug and schooner along a coast at sunset, oil on canvas laid down on board, signed E. T. Baker[38]
  • Moonlight whaling scene, oil on canvas[39]
  • Two cutters off highland at sunset, oil on canvas with Baker monogram, private collection[1]

Death

Baker died, at age 63, on August 21, 1890, in Orange, Connecticut. He was buried at the Linwood Cemetery in Colchester, Connecticut, on August 30.[1]

  • New Jersey pilot boat Centennial, oil on canvas, signed with Baker monogram
    New Jersey pilot boat Centennial, oil on canvas, signed with Baker monogram
  • East River Scene, Brooklyn, N.Y. (ca. 1886)
    East River Scene, Brooklyn, N.Y. (ca. 1886)
  • New York pilot boat Pet, No. 9
    New York pilot boat Pet, No. 9
  • Schooner Madawaska Maid
    Schooner Madawaska Maid
  • Oil on canvas painting of the pilot schooner James M. Waterbury
    Oil on canvas painting of the pilot schooner James M. Waterbury

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Elisha Taylor Baker, Marine Painter: A Continuing Search by William Avery Baker" (PDF). The Log Mystic Seaport. 1979. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  2. ^ "Year: 1870; Census Place: Jersey City Ward 1, Hudson, New Jersey; Roll: M593_866; Page: 29B; Family History Library Film: 552365". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  3. ^ "Elisha Taylor Baker, Connecticut Marriages, 1630-1997". FamilySearch. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  4. ^ "Sketchbook by Elisha Taylor Baker, circa 1875". mobius.mysticseaport.org. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  5. ^ "Elisha Taylor Baker". Antiques & Fine Art. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  6. ^ "Madawaska Maid". Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  7. ^ "Travler, E.T.B, American Steamboat". The Mariners' Museum and Park. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  8. ^ "Abraham Leggett". Wikimedia Commons. 1880. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  9. ^ "New York Harbor near Castle Garden". Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  10. ^ "The Bella Crowell". www.artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  11. ^ "The Bella Crowell". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  12. ^ "Elm City, (American, Steamboat)". The Mariners' Museum and Park. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  13. ^ "Breezing Out". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  14. ^ "Centennial, New Jersey Pilot Schooner, No. 7". The Mariners' Museum and Park. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  15. ^ "Pet, No. 9". Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  16. ^ "Seascape with Ships". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  17. ^ "Whaleship George Passing the Groton Monument at New London". collections.whalingmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  18. ^ "East River Scene". Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  19. ^ "Shooting off the Lifeline". Worcester Art Museum. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  20. ^ "James M. Waterbury". Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  21. ^ "Sailboat". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  22. ^ "Schooner and Pilot Boat at Dusk". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  23. ^ "Yachting". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  24. ^ "The two-master schooner G. Carman". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  25. ^ "Tillie". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  26. ^ "Ships Arrival". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  27. ^ "Off Huntington Light". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  28. ^ "Glen Cove, Long Island Sound". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  29. ^ "Seascape with Ships". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  30. ^ "Sunrise from Chapman Dock and Old Brooklyn Navy Yard, East River, New York". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  31. ^ "Sloop Yacht Below Hudson Highlands". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  32. ^ "Race for the America's Cup". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  33. ^ "The Cora". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  34. ^ "Evening Encampment". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  35. ^ "Brigantine and Tug Entering Harbor at Dusk". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  36. ^ "Shipping by Moonlight". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  37. ^ "The yacht Stranger of the New York Yacht Club off Execution Lighthouse". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  38. ^ "Tug and schooner along a coast at sunset". artnet.com. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  39. ^ "Moonlight whaling scene". collections.whalingmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
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