Florence Riefle Bahr
Encyclopedia
Florence Elizabeth Riefle Bahr (February 2, 1909 – January 12, 1998) was a prolific artist and activist throughout her life. Early in her career, she was quoted as saying, "I'd rather paint than eat."
Florence, of German
descent, was born in Baltimore City to parents James Henry Riefle and Florence Shafer. She was the great granddaughter of Henry Ferdinand Riefle
, granddaughter of both Henry Francis Riefle and Jacob Conrad Shafer, and the niece of Norman T.A. Munder
, a well-known Baltimore printer. Florence grew up in the Liberty Road/Park Heights neighborhood, and in her teenage years, the family moved to Homeland. She was the first daughter of six siblings, and though raised in a musically talented family, was encouraged to exercise her visually artistic eye at a youthful age.
Florence graduated from Forest Park High School in 1927 and attended Dickinson College
for two years before switching to the Maryland Institute School of Mechanical Arts—now Maryland Institute College of Art
("MICA"). She went to both the Day and Night Schools there in 1930, graduating with a diploma in Costume Design, and became a post-grad with honors in 1931 with a diploma in Fine Arts, winning the James Young Memorial Prize and a tour of Europe
. While at the Institute, she met another student (who was also her painting teacher), Leonard Bahr
, to whom she married in 1934. During the "Depression Era" she worked for the Works Progress Administration
, painting (among other commissions) a mural for the Harriet Lane Home for Children.
During WWII, the family lived in Florida
-- both in Hollywood and Jacksonville, where Leonard was stationed. Returning to Maryland, and by June 1947 with three children, they moved from their home on Reisterstown Road in Baltimore City to "Edgewood Cottage," an historic house on Old Lawyers Hill Road in Elkridge
, (Howard County) Maryland. By 1966, they had built a new house and studios on the same property.
Florence's ideas were expansive and her interests broad. She used pencil
, charcoal
, watercolor, pastel
, oil
, ink
, woodcut
, etching
, lithography
and assemblage
, and her work reflected her daily life as well as life's larger challenges. From commissions of murals, children's portraits and book illustrations during the 1940s, a wind of change for her came by the mid-1950s. With civil rights and nuclear test issues arising, and basing her faith in Jesus Christ, she re-examined her values and priorities and used her talents to champion human rights
, environmental issues, underprivileged children, anti-nuclear testing and anti-war
causes.
Florence was bold by nature and not afraid to confront issues, though sensitive to the overwhelming negative projects she worked to change. She used her sketchbooks to record political marches and demonstrations, strikes, trials, and speeches, and eventually donated over 340 of those sketchbooks to the Maryland State Archives. She wrote numerous letters to all levels of government, challenging them to rethink their choices. Her support included funding missions and hosting exchange programs to visiting prisoners and feeding inner-city children at the "breakfasts" organized by the Black Panthers. She was a friend to both Berrigan brothers and the Catonsville Nine
, and was a participant within the American Friends Service Committee
. Meanwhile, she returned to MICA and graduated with a BFA in art history in 1962 and again in 1967 with an MFA in printmaking.
She thus encouraged herself, inspiring others to raise their life's choices to a higher level of thought and participation; and in many ways, became a remarkable testimony in "having the courage to change and speak out" in the eyes of her children. She remains a legacy and a "state treasure."
But her life didn't stop anywhere in one area. Florence was also an avid reader, collecting an estimation of 1,000 books in her personal library. She loved nature - collecting specimens of flora and fauna she found along the way, and she loved canoeing and bicycling with Leonard. And she was an antiques dealer. She collected everything, but mostly dolls, naming them and painting their portraits. She opened a museum in Ellicott City called the "Humpty Dumpty Doll Museum" and charged for tours of her collection. She was filmed in an episode of "Maryland, By George,", a television interview regarding an exhibition of her doll collection, housed in the Howard County Historical Society at that time.
Florence's art has been exhibited widely and published in magazines, newspapers, and in book illustrations, and is owned by private and public collections in Germany, Japan and throughout the United States, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Peabody Conservatory, and the Baltimore NAACP, which owns an assemblage she created in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In 1999, she was post-humously awarded "Woman of the Year" by the State of Maryland in their Women's Hall of Fame, and in 2002, her biography was included in the book Women of Achievement in Maryland History.
Florence tragically perished in a house fire which also destroyed some, but not all, of her and Leonard's studio/home contents. What was spared is treasured.
include:
"findagrave.com"; "mdartsource.com;" "Sailor.lib;" "mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol"; "mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/educ/womenshall."
Publishments include: "A Family of Artists" in The Sunday Magazine, Jan. 10,1982; and Women of Achievement in Maryland History by Carolyn B. Stegman, 2002.
The Maryland Historical Society, the Elkridge Heritage Society, and the Enoch Pratt Library hold some records of her life and work.
Florence, of German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
descent, was born in Baltimore City to parents James Henry Riefle and Florence Shafer. She was the great granddaughter of Henry Ferdinand Riefle
Henry Ferdinand Riefle
Henry Ferdinand Riefle , was a butcher and leading citizen of Baltimore, Maryland.-Occupation & Public Life:Henry F. Riefle sold meat at the No. 1 stall in Lexington Market, Baltimore. Generally it was considered that such tradesmen were intelligent in the management of their affairs, active and...
, granddaughter of both Henry Francis Riefle and Jacob Conrad Shafer, and the niece of Norman T.A. Munder
Norman T.A. Munder
Norman Thompson Aeisler Munder was a printer and typographer, and a pioneer in modern printing.-Printing History:Norman Munder and his company, Norman T.A. Munder & Co., of Baltimore, was well respected and won numerous awards. The Maryland Room at the Enoch Pratt Free Library holds over ten boxes...
, a well-known Baltimore printer. Florence grew up in the Liberty Road/Park Heights neighborhood, and in her teenage years, the family moved to Homeland. She was the first daughter of six siblings, and though raised in a musically talented family, was encouraged to exercise her visually artistic eye at a youthful age.
Florence graduated from Forest Park High School in 1927 and attended Dickinson College
Dickinson College
Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...
for two years before switching to the Maryland Institute School of Mechanical Arts—now Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art is an art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the first and oldest art colleges in the United States. In 2008, MICA was ranked #2 in the nation...
("MICA"). She went to both the Day and Night Schools there in 1930, graduating with a diploma in Costume Design, and became a post-grad with honors in 1931 with a diploma in Fine Arts, winning the James Young Memorial Prize and a tour of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. While at the Institute, she met another student (who was also her painting teacher), Leonard Bahr
Leonard Bahr
Leonard Marion Bahr was a prolific painter of portraits and murals, an illustrator, as well as a highly regarded painting professor for 52 years at the Maryland Institute College of Art ....
, to whom she married in 1934. During the "Depression Era" she worked for the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
, painting (among other commissions) a mural for the Harriet Lane Home for Children.
During WWII, the family lived in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
-- both in Hollywood and Jacksonville, where Leonard was stationed. Returning to Maryland, and by June 1947 with three children, they moved from their home on Reisterstown Road in Baltimore City to "Edgewood Cottage," an historic house on Old Lawyers Hill Road in Elkridge
Elkridge, Maryland
Elkridge is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland, United States. The population was 22,042 at the 2000 census. Founded early in the 18th century, Elkridge is located at the confluence of three counties, the other two being Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties...
, (Howard County) Maryland. By 1966, they had built a new house and studios on the same property.
Florence's ideas were expansive and her interests broad. She used pencil
Pencil
A pencil is a writing implement or art medium usually constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core inside a protective casing. The case prevents the core from breaking, and also from marking the user’s hand during use....
, charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
, watercolor, pastel
Pastel
Pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation....
, oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
, ink
Ink
Ink is a liquid or paste that contains pigments and/or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush, or quill...
, woodcut
Woodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
, etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
, lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
and assemblage
Assemblage
An assemblage is an archaeological term meaning a group of different artifacts found in association with one another, that is, in the same context...
, and her work reflected her daily life as well as life's larger challenges. From commissions of murals, children's portraits and book illustrations during the 1940s, a wind of change for her came by the mid-1950s. With civil rights and nuclear test issues arising, and basing her faith in Jesus Christ, she re-examined her values and priorities and used her talents to champion human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, environmental issues, underprivileged children, anti-nuclear testing and anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
causes.
Florence was bold by nature and not afraid to confront issues, though sensitive to the overwhelming negative projects she worked to change. She used her sketchbooks to record political marches and demonstrations, strikes, trials, and speeches, and eventually donated over 340 of those sketchbooks to the Maryland State Archives. She wrote numerous letters to all levels of government, challenging them to rethink their choices. Her support included funding missions and hosting exchange programs to visiting prisoners and feeding inner-city children at the "breakfasts" organized by the Black Panthers. She was a friend to both Berrigan brothers and the Catonsville Nine
Catonsville Nine
The Catonsville Nine were nine Catholic activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War. On May 17, 1968 they went to the draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, took 378 draft files, brought them to the parking lot in wire baskets, dumped them out, poured homemade napalm over them, and...
, and was a participant within the American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
. Meanwhile, she returned to MICA and graduated with a BFA in art history in 1962 and again in 1967 with an MFA in printmaking.
She thus encouraged herself, inspiring others to raise their life's choices to a higher level of thought and participation; and in many ways, became a remarkable testimony in "having the courage to change and speak out" in the eyes of her children. She remains a legacy and a "state treasure."
But her life didn't stop anywhere in one area. Florence was also an avid reader, collecting an estimation of 1,000 books in her personal library. She loved nature - collecting specimens of flora and fauna she found along the way, and she loved canoeing and bicycling with Leonard. And she was an antiques dealer. She collected everything, but mostly dolls, naming them and painting their portraits. She opened a museum in Ellicott City called the "Humpty Dumpty Doll Museum" and charged for tours of her collection. She was filmed in an episode of "Maryland, By George,", a television interview regarding an exhibition of her doll collection, housed in the Howard County Historical Society at that time.
Florence's art has been exhibited widely and published in magazines, newspapers, and in book illustrations, and is owned by private and public collections in Germany, Japan and throughout the United States, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Peabody Conservatory, and the Baltimore NAACP, which owns an assemblage she created in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In 1999, she was post-humously awarded "Woman of the Year" by the State of Maryland in their Women's Hall of Fame, and in 2002, her biography was included in the book Women of Achievement in Maryland History.
Florence tragically perished in a house fire which also destroyed some, but not all, of her and Leonard's studio/home contents. What was spared is treasured.
Sources
References online regarding specifics of the lives and art of Florence and Leonard BahrLeonard Bahr
Leonard Marion Bahr was a prolific painter of portraits and murals, an illustrator, as well as a highly regarded painting professor for 52 years at the Maryland Institute College of Art ....
include:
"findagrave.com"; "mdartsource.com;" "Sailor.lib;" "mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol"; "mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/educ/womenshall."
Publishments include: "A Family of Artists" in The Sunday Magazine, Jan. 10,1982; and Women of Achievement in Maryland History by Carolyn B. Stegman, 2002.
The Maryland Historical Society, the Elkridge Heritage Society, and the Enoch Pratt Library hold some records of her life and work.