User talk:Mary Bahr
This is a brief written history regarding Leonard Marion Bahr and Florence Elizabeth Riefle Bahr and their families.
Leonard Marion Bahr, was a well-known Maryland artist, specializing in portraiture and receiving many commissions from individuals and from corporate entities. He also taught for 52 years at the Maryland Institute of Art, being a student there himself in the late 1920's. Leonard was born May 12, 1905 in Lansdowne, the second of two sons to "of German heritage" parents - Leonard Bahr and Caroline Fox. His first job as a young man was as a photo retoucher at the Lynchburg Engraving Co., owned by his uncle, Edward Stevens. He then worked in a printing firm in Baltimore City, but soon attended the Maryland Institute of Art on scholarship. He was an assistant teacher when his professor was out, and he worked hard - showing himself a talented student and winning further scholarships. He won a school prize to tour Europe and upon returning to the U.S., found the Depression had hit. He then worked for federal cooperatives, set up to help artists survive by creatively working at government-sponsored jobs. Leonard painted murals and a preparatory sketch for one in particular is at the Smithsonian Museum. These particular murals told the histories of Elkridge and of Catonsville, and were installed in the Catonsville High School library. But, the murals disappeared and to this day, remain a mystery. Though he started his career painting portraits, his heart was also to paint for "the church." He drew a series illustrating the 23rd Psalm and had them published. He also painted a "Gethsemane" scene for installation above a church altar, as well as other paintings depicting scenes from the Bible. His heart loved the Lord and he wanted to follow through with his art. And he did, as many of his portraits were of various church leaders of different faiths. In 1934, he married Florence Riefle, also a student at the Maryland Institute of Art. Leonard moved his family to Elkridge in 1947, and his studio from Baltimore City to that property in 1966, and in 1973, added a new house attached to it -including a studio for Florence. For many years they painted, exhibited and traveled. Leonard's art is owned nationally, by private collections, government entities, corporations and churches. A partial list includes the Maryland State House, the Maryland Club, the Maryland Archdiocese, Evangelical Luthern Church of Our Savior, The Peabody Conservatory, and Union Memorial Hospital - again to name a few. Leonard died July 20, 1990, and is interred at MeadowRidge Cemetery.
Florence Elizabeth Riefle [Bahr] was born February 2, 1909, in Baltimore City, and was raised in the neighborhoods of Forest Park and then Homeland. Her "of German heritage" parents were Florence Horn Shafer and Henry Riefle. She was raised in a musical family and was the third child of six siblings and the only sibling to continue seriously in the "arts" - becoming a painter. She attended Dickinson Collage for two years and then continued her higher education at the Maryland Institute of Art. She was quite creative as a child and after marriage, continued in that field, as well as having three children. Her art was eclectic and varied in medium: woodcuts, etchings, watercolors, oils, designing and creating rugs, dolls and clothes, illustrating children's books, and later in life, lending her artistic ability to the causes of civil rights, and other political issues. She marched in civil rights demonstrations, including the historic march with Martin Luther King in Washington, DC. She later donated approximately 340 of her politically-oriented sketchbooks to the State of Maryland for reference regarding Maryland history and gave the NAACP a work dedicated to Martin Luther King. She was also a collector of antiques, including antique dolls, and had her own "doll museum" in Ellicott City, Maryland. She was Maryland Woman Artist of the Year for 1999 by the State of Maryland and the Maryland Commission for Women. Her biography is on the internet and was also written in Woman of Achievement in Maryland History, by C. Stegman, in 2002. Above all, like her husband, she had an abiding faith in the Lord. A house fire in 1998, which claimed Florence's life, also destroyed Leonard's studio and many of the art works of the family. She was interred next to her husband. Florence's works are owned internationally in private collections and in government entities.
They both live on in spirit, as well as in legacy found untouched by flames.
Their three children are: Elizabeth Bahr [Fox], homemaker; Leonard Bahr Jr., advisor to the Governor of Louisianna on Coastal Affairs; and Mary Shafer Bahr, artist, writer, and keeper of legacies.
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