Walter E. Ashbaugh (American/Ohio, 1875 – 1969) Impressionist oil on canvas forest landscape. Signed lower left "W. E. Ashbaugh". Housed in the original gilt wood frame. Sight – 24 3/8" H x 29 1/4" W. Framed – 28 3/8" H x 33 1/2" W. 20th century. Biography (Courtesy R. Edward Kline): Ashbaugh was a self-taught painter. During his commercial career, he painted for Ruhl Molding Co. of Cincinnati and Mage's in Chicago, both wholesale art houses. As a young man he moved to Chicago where he concentrated on fruit and floral still life paintings. He later preferred landscape painting and for several years traveled through the West, sketching and painting. Eventually, he and his wife settled on a small farm in Gilead, Ohio. Using oils and pastels, he sometimes made his own pastel papers as well as many of the colors he used. Often, he would apply pastels to his oil paintings. A critic remarked that his work "reflects a finely disciplined academic style replete with overtones of Impressionism". Much of his work was destroyed in an art gallery fire in 1940, prior to his only scheduled exhibition. Sick at heart, he resolved never to show again. However a few months before his death he consented to a show at Cincinnati, predominantly featuring his landscape paintings. Condition: Painting overall excellent condition with some slight abrasions to frame.