Dimensions
40 x 170 x 39mm
Complex and exacting to produce, involving up to seven blocks for a single composition, months of work, and innumerable proofs, Gustave Baumann's woodcuts betray none of the effort that went into their making. They are self-contained small worlds that speak to the heart of simplicity. As a very young man, Baumann (1881-1971) worked for a commercial engraving house and attended the Art Institute of Chicago at night; later he studied in Munich when some of the world's most innovative block printing was being done there.
Baumann remained faithful to the graphically straightforward, emotionally direct tradition of the Munich engravers all his life. In rural Indiana, New York, New England, and the Southwest, Baumann captured his surroundings-Midwestern evening gardens, Santa Fe dooryards glowing with new blooms-with affectionate respect. Saturated with color, his flowers radiate the light that grew them.
