Maud Stumm was born near Cleveland, Ohio, about 1866, the daughter of Frank A. and Lucy Stumm. After receiving her early education in the Cleveland public schools, she pursued her art education, from 1884 to 1888, at the Cleveland Art Club, and then attended the Art Students League in New York, where her instructors were Kenyon Cox and Siddons Mowbray. During the early 1890’s, her watercolors were shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, and the Boston Art Club. Later, after study in Paris with Oliver Merson (circa 1894-1895), she returned to New York, where she found much success designing illustrations for books, magazines and calendar’s. She eventually began to spend time in Nantucket during the summers, where she was active in the art community as early as 1916. Maud Stumm was a founding member and regular contributor to the Nantucket Art Colony and its exhibits. She is also noted there for founding the Sidewalk Art Show in 1930.