After winning the Philadelphia City Council Scholarship in 1952, Louis B. Sloan enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at the urging of Julius Bloch. He became a star student and later professor at the Academy. However, Sloan’s mentee, Philadelphia artist Moe Brooker, recounted Sloan’s reports of facing harsh scrutiny as one of few Black students at the Academy in the 1950s.

West Chester Landscape typifies Sloan’s interest in landscape. In a 1991 interview, Sloan explained, “With landscapes, if I see something and it excites me, I can capture it right away.” Sloan’s love of the outdoors and plein-air painting allowed him to push the boundaries of stereotypes attached to Black artists, breaking into an artistic genre from which minority artists were typically excluded. As art critics have noted, this sometimes proved to be a double-edged sword. Sloan’s depictions of rural landscapes attracted less attention from critics and patrons who expected Black artists to paint urban scenes.