Born in Belgium in 1870, William E. Schumacher and his family immigrated to the United States when he was an infant. Raised and educated in Boston, Schumacher returned to Europe to study art, entering the Dresden Academy in 1888. In 1890 he transferred to the well-known Académie Julian in Paris, where he came into contact with the artists of the European avant-garde. He was particularly influenced by Art Nouveau and the art of the Nabis painters Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis.