Adam Lehr (1853-1924)

Known primarily as a still-life and landscape painter, Adam Lehr was born in Cleveland (Cuyahoga County), Ohio, on November 1, 1853. The son of John Lehr, a German-born shoemaker, he worked in his youth for a house painter, then found a more "artistic" job in 1872 with James Chubb, a sign and ornamental painter.

In 1874, De Scott Evans accepted him as a pupil, and a year or two later he began attending Archibald M. Willard's even sketch classes at the Cleveland Art Club. Progressing rapidly under Willard's guidance, he soon left Chubb's employ to decorate steamboats fore Willard's brother, Charles A. Willard. In 1880, with financial assistance from Alexander Gunn, a Clevelan...