Barone, known primarily as a portrait painter, studied at the Art Students League on New York in 1906 and opened his first studio in 1908. That summer he was invited to Old Lyme, Connecticut, the former location of the Art Students League Summer School, and then to Woodstock, New York, where the League had already established their summer school two years prior. Barone was effected by the pervasive style of French Impressionism employed by artists at these two locations and attempted to combine portraiture and plein-air painting. This experiment was quickly abandoned, though he did continue to paint landscapes. Barone for many years to come continued to spend summers, as did many artists, in Woodstock.