Walter Emerson Baum (December 14, 1884 – July 12, 1956) was an American visual artist and educator, active in the Bucks and Lehigh County areas of Pennsylvania.

Baum attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1905 and 1906, where he studied with Thomas Pollock Anshutz, Hugh H. Breckenridge, William Merritt Chase, and Cecilia Beaux.

Baum was an active art instructor in the Allentown area from 1926 to 1956, where his students included John E. Berninger, Karl Buesgen, Joseph Gehringer, Walter Mattern, and Melville Stark.

In October 2006, the David E. Rodale Gallery at the Baum School of Art in Allentown, Pennsylvania held an exhibition celebrating the work of this group.

In 1948, Baum provided illustrations and an introductory essay for the Selected Short Stories of Thomas Hardy (published by Rodale, Inc., Emmaus, Pennsylvania).

Baum also worked as an art critic and reviewer for the Philadelphia Evening and Sunday Bulletin, a position in which, as an artist himself, he was able to bring a unique perspective that became popular with readers.

During the Great Depression, a period during which artists found it extremely difficult to find work, his column was important in keeping the vibrant Philadelphia art community active and informed.

It was the Bucks County Traveling Art Gallery that served as the impetus (albeit it took almost forty more years to come to fruition) for the establishment of a museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania dedicated to the work of local artists.

At the end of the war, he returned to Allentown, Pennsylvania,and established a family practice that, for over 40 years, was located at 1624 Walnut Street, in the city's West Park neighborhood.