Robert Frederick Blum was one of the late-nineteenth century’s most prominent Impressionists, associating with an international circle that included Frank Duveneck, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, William Merritt Chase, and John Henry Twachtman. Born in Cincannati, Blum trained under Duveneck and traveled widely, cultivating a broad array of influence from Italian, Spanish, and Japanese art. He established his studio in New York in the 1880s, where he became known for his paintings, pastels, etchings, illustrations, and murals. Blum served as the President of the Society of Painters of Pastel and won medals from the Paris Expositions of 1889 and 1900 and the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition of 1901. His work is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum.