Leo York Baker was born in Bristol on January 30, 1903. In the 1950s his painting "Devonshire Scene" (No. 1) was accepted by the Royal Academy of Arts in London. During that time he met Ilse Weitz; both were members of an informal artists' group. They married on November 11, 1962. In that same year they moved to Foxhole Wood on the Sheepstreet Lane in Etchingham (East Sussex). Leo died on July 30, 1989 and Ilse died on December 3, 2006.
Most of Leo's paintings were created in Foxhole Wood. They are now in the private collection of Burkhard Weitz in the Netherlands.