Excerpt: In a Modern Rendering: The Color Woodcuts of Gustave Baumann: A Catalogue Raisonné by Rizzoli International Publications

deftness, soul, and a gypsy instinct: the creative art of

gustave baumann 1881â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1971 Nancy E. Green

| Endowed with a “gypsy instinct,” Gustave Baumann led a peripatetic life until, at the age of 37, he found himself in New Mexico.1 This was not a straight trajectory from his childhood in

Magdeburg, Germany, but it seems inevitable, the natural culmination of many years’ sojourning toward the kind of artistic community he craved — one that retained its rough edges, endorsed fierce independence and a healthy respect for personal privacy, and nurtured a strong, multicultural population eloquent in all the arts, from crafts to painting and sculpture, music and literature, yet did not take itself too seriously. Baumann’s itinerant lifestyle began early — his family moved to Chicago from Germany when he was ten. At this time, the Midwestern metropolis was burgeoning; newly rebuilt after the disastrous fire of 1871 destroyed much of the inner city, it was a symbol of urban success, culminating in the winning of the competition for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, just two years after the Baumann family arrived. Chicago in the 1890s and early 1900s was at the center of both social and cultural reforms. Jane Addams’s zealous efforts provided a number of firsts for Chicagoans — the first public baths, public playground, citizenship preparation classes, free art exhibitions, public swimming pool, and college extension courses, to name a few — that brought international attention to the city. Architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright were re-creating the physical spaces in which people worked and lived. The Chicago Arts and Crafts Society hosted international lecturers, including C. R. Ashbee and Walter Crane, and created a community of gifted craftworkers, while clubs such as the Palette and Chisel and the Chicago Society of Etchers, of which Baumann was a founding member, served to encourage the work of artists in a variety of media. The School of the Art Institute trained artists for careers and offered exhibiting opportunities. Like many immigrants before them, the Baumanns came to America in search of a better life. Gustav Baumann Sr., a cabinetmaker by trade, emigrated first, making a place for his wife Pauline and their three children, Gustave (born in 1881), Adolph (born in 1885), and Charlotte, known as Lottie (born in 1889), who arrived in Chicago in 1891. The last child, Rose Louise, was the only one of the four to be born in this country, in 1893. After his father deserted the family in 1897, young Gustave, as the oldest child, assumed financial responsibility for his mother and siblings (fig. 6.1).2 He’d always enjoyed drawing in school and, as he said later, “I probably have a simple public school teacher to thank for fixing the word art in my mind through the drawings she saw me do. When the time came, and I was then sixteen, she wrote out a recommendation in beautiful Spencerian script. Armed with this, I entered my first job in an engraving house art department to serve as an apprentice.”3

The job was with the Franklin Engraving Company. Though the opportunity got his foot

in the door, this was not exactly Art as he envisioned it, with a capital A. He found himself “working gratis for a long period with the privilege of sweeping the establishment and running errands.” Even as his duties became more artistic in nature, he still found the shop routine to be very dull and occasionally distracted himself (and his fellow workers) with mild diversionary jokes that did not endear him to his bosses. “I did not herd well on the assembly line . . . [and] found it advisable to remove my drawing board and color box to a small studio of my own where I worked hard and in between times grabbed fragments of the education I had missed in earlier years.”4 By 1902, Gustave Baumann began to make some important decisions about the

track of his life and career.

are not clearly defined in Baumann’s photograph is an effect of the season and the sun’s angle at the time of day. These petroglyphs are best seen in the raking light of morning or afternoon. One of the more enjoyable experiences of researching this essay was looking through Baumann’s photographs and linking them to particular woodcuts. Not only can we feel the magic of looking back at a moment in time frozen a hundred or more years ago, but seeing that moment coming to life in the warm, rich colors of his woodcuts brings us close to what Baumann wanted to share. A couple of photographs (figs. 7.9, 7.11) are included here, noting the corresponding woodcuts in this catalogue. Baumann employed yet another preparatory step in planning a color woodcut. Tempera paintings in rich, opaque colors — usually on dark brown paper — were made the same size as the finished woodcut (figs. 7.14–15). With heavy pencil, Gus then outlined directly on the painting the areas he wished to delineate by color and shape. Using carbon paper or soft graphite rubbed on the back of the painting, he transferred his lines to a block. The color woodcut that resulted figure 7.9 | Doing farmyard

from this technique was a mirror image of the original painting. Printers refer to this reversal of

chores, this young fellow and his

text or image as right-reading or wrong-reading. It never seemed to matter much to Gus that an

barefoot sibling, photographed

image might appear backwards. Although they have been exhibited from time to time, he did

by Baumann c. 1912, appear in

not regard the tempera studies as ﬁnished work. Yet, with the pencil lines still showing and color

the color woodcut Plum and Peach Bloom (cat. 30). The

notations in the margins, these studies have a fresh spontaneity about them that make us admire

woodcuts that Baumann made

the artist all the more.

in Indiana take on an added charm when one knows that he was portraying the neighbors he knew by name. figure 7.11 | With the twentieth

many of the color woodcuts in this book. Blair has long documented Baumann’s work for the

century gaining momentum, it

Museum of New Mexico, and we noted the irony of reproducing his work, so painstakingly

is no wonder that Baumann

made by hand, with today’s advanced technology that almost completely eliminates the involve-

chose to capture a horse and buggy exiting the scene, perhaps forever. He used this photo of Harden Hollow, c. 1912, as the motif for the color woodcut of

A Thing Alive | As this essay was coming together, I observed Blair Clark photographing

the same title (cat. 116) in 1927.

ment of the hand. If the artist in Baumann was true to anything, it was to the work of the hand. He once spoke of hands as being God’s gift to an individual. A hand guiding a tool was a prerequisite to art, and he valued his tools accordingly. All that the tool asked in return, he felt, was to be treated with respect. No one can explain this better than Gus:

Tools are an extension of the hand that uses them, they go where they are guided. When rightly used tools have in common wither [sic] it be the traditional flat knife blade or the hollow tool. While a knife and carving tool can be held in one hand, they depend upon the other hand for guidance. When reduced to graver proportions it fits comfortably into the palm of one hand and can be used with more freedom. It is best to use as few tools as possible. Now and then special requirements keep adding to the number. This increases the problem of keeping them in orderly sequence so they can be found without too much searching. While a long row of tools seems the most logical, edges have a way of getting nicked and I finally evolved a little merry-go-round arrangement where each tool has its place marked like a red, green, or

tempera and graphite, c. 1920. Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, Gift of The Ann Baumann Trust, 2015.007.001. Tempera studies give clues to Baumann’s methods. Color notations written below the image on this study indicate that he was thinking ahead to the blocks to be carved. figure 7.15 | Spring New Mexico,

color woodcut, 1925 (cat. 102.1).

silver horse ready to go when called upon [fig. 7.19]. Sharpening a tool is no secret but it does require patience. When a tool gives out as they all do usually at a most inopportune time, the one next to it in size can be made to do, but eventually a sharpening bee becomes unavoidable. Carborundum for quick cutting and Arkansas stone for fine sharpening are still the best. What are called slip stones shaped to fit the inside of hollow tools give them the final touch when a leather strop gives the tool a razor-like edge. After an hour or so of interruption the sharpening bee is over.9

In 1917, responding to a letter from J. J. Lankes, then an aspiring artist who would later write a woodcut manual of his own, Baumann wrote: “I use woodcarvers tools and cut them down then fit them into gravers handles — unless you have a knack for that sort of thing you’ll find the small U or V shaped tools rather difficult to keep in condition — why don’t you try using a knife and a few gouges of various sizes for lifting out large surfaces — use an old razor strop to keep an edge on your tools — for sharpening, an Arkansas stone is the thing.”10

Besides modifying tools to ﬁt his hand, Baumann painted some of his gouges and knives for

cutting and ink-mixing a vivid turquoise and others an industrial green (see ﬁg. 7.1). As best as I can tell, the color coding was intended to help him return the tools to the printing corner of the

| the problems of a regular guy |

the tool seemingly becomes a thing alive —it asks only that its cutting edge be kept sharp and this all

figure 7.14 | Gustave Baumann,

study for Spring New Mexico,

references: Berlin Photographic 1916, cat. 19; Chicago 1916a, cat. 9; Milwaukee 1918b, cat. 14; Detroit 1919, cat. 10; Los Angeles 1919, cat. 1; Elks Club 1920, cat. 1; Pennell 1921, ill. p. 68; American Academy of Arts 1922, cat. 288; Washington 1926, no. 51; Santa Fe 1952, cat. 49; Indianapolis 1978, nos. 1–11; Santa Fe 1981, p. 3; Annex Galleries 1985, cat. 12; Krause et al. 1993, pl. 71; Krause 2002, ill. p. 47; Annex Galleries 2005, ill. p. [4]; Brown County Art Gallery 2013, ill. p. 9; Gerald Peters Gallery 2013, ill. p. 9. repositories: AIC; FAMSF; IMA; NMMA; WAM. I often wonder how Art Students in this present day are able to manage. . . . Having saved up one hundred dollars in Chicago I could then escape to Nashville and live about three months on that amount roughly itemized as room and board ﬁve dollars a week. Studio work shop three dollars a month while a pair of corduroys snagged on blackberry brambles could be replaced for two dollars. A car was a luxury you looked at only when one happened to be parked in front of Bill

39.1 Art Institute of Chicago. 1923.515

Pitmann’s with the driver sound asleep in the back seat after an arduous trip of some thirty miles from Indianapolis. Bill Pittman’s table was no gourmet’s delight, but occasionally while I was staying there 182

some kind Indpl [sic] friend took pity and we’d go to the Claypool then specializing in delicious Onion Soup. That would sort of settle my stomach until I was ready to return to Brown County and stay until that hundred had been used up.4 1 Cat. 44; see Temporary Receipt T.R. 810

for the traveling exhibition (curatorial ﬁles, Cleveland). 2 See note 1. 3 Estella M. King to Gustave Baumann, correspondence, 14 February 1930 and [February 1930], GBA. 4 Baumann and Chamberlain 2009, p. 561.

39.2 Johanna and Leslie Garfeld Collection, New York

Editioned Color Woodcuts | 1905–1962 | 183

39.3 New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe. 863.23G

194

45.1 Art Institute of Chicago. 1923.542

references: Milch Galleries 1917, cat. 8;

at Lydia Coonley Ward’s summer school at

Chicago 1918, cat. 33; El Palacio 1918a, p.

Hillside in Wyoming, New York. Baumann

exhausted and the last impression was priced

218; Milwaukee 1918b, cat. 9; Detroit 1919,

brieﬂy considered settling in the village of

at $55. In 1950, Baumann returned to this

cat. 27; Los Angeles 1919, cat. 19; Detroit

Wyoming and establishing a studio there.

imagery to create his larger-format wood-

(Bulletin) 1920, p. 14; Elks Club 1920, cat. 23;

After he visited New York City and Provinc-

cut Spring Blossoms, for which he reversed

Los Angeles 1920, cat. 208; El Palacio 1921b,

etown in the fall, he returned to Wyoming

the image, employed aluminum leaf, and

p. 15; Chicago 1922a, cat. 117; Santa Fe 1952,

and prepared new stationery, developed

assigned a new inventory number to distin-

cat. 4; Wilson 1988, p. 20; Gerald Peters Gal-

his Swanli chop, and devised the name

guish the titles (see cat. 180).

lery 2013, ill. p. 26.

The Swanli Press for this new venture. The

repositories: AIC; CMA; DIA; NMMA; WAM.

follow the title, indicate that the edition was

The apple blossoms at Hillside are

idea was short-lived, as he was in Taos by

described in Chronicles of an American Home,

spring 1918. On Baumann’s handwritten

a history of the house derived from corre-

Apple Blossoms is Baumann’s ﬁrst color

inventory listing for 1924, Apple Blossoms

spondence and other papers and edited by

woodcut based on sketches he created

is the ﬁrst entry under the heading New

Waldo Browne.

during the summer of 1917 while teaching

York Prints. The words “last Print 55,” which

Editioned Color Woodcuts | 1905–1962 | 195

45.2 Art Institute of Chicago. 1921.360

Here, over the top of the hill, are maple

apple tree for beauty! A few steps more and

trees with leaves almost full ﬂedged, and

we are in Paradise Path, and can touch the

between them is an oak, its tiny gray leaves

apple blossoms. Looking at them from the

pinker at their edges than the apple blos-

garden they are white, but here we get the

soms, and see how they hug their little

exquisite pink of buds that crowd against

green tassels and fringe and look down into

great clusters of white ﬂowers set in frames

the ﬂat over the heads of the orchard trees.

of sage-green leaves.3

Climb a few steps and see, only see, the apple trees—a great procession marching up the hill—each one a big bouquet. Talk of orange blossoms and bridal wreaths! Not for a moment can an orange compare with an

1 Cat. 33; see Temporary Receipt T.R. 810

for the traveling exhibition (curatorial ﬁles, Cleveland). 2 See note 1. 3 Browne 1930, p. 157.

80 Pines Grand Canyon 1921 Alternative titles: Pines Grand Cañon; Pines, Grand Canyon; Pines — Grand Canyon Color woodcut Image: 127/8 × 127/8 in. (32.7 × 32.7 cm) Baumann inv. no. 40 edition i: From a projected edition of 100, the impression found with the lowest number is inscribed NO 6 OF 100, and that with the highest is ink-stamped 87. An impression inscribed NO 24 OF 100 has the highest number found in this method of numbering, while the lowest number found on stamped impressions is 26. It is possible that Baumann’s intention with his use of stamped numbers was to indicate a different printing campaign within the same edition. Impressions were printed in seven colors by the artist on cream Zanders Bergisch Gladbach laid paper. In the Baumann estate, six proof impressions, printed from individual blocks, clearly demonstrate that seven colors were printed from six blocks. The tempera study in the Cleveland Museum of Art (2005.472)

80.1 Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfelds. 2002.187

is inscribed black / pink / orange / yellow / blue / blue green. An impression inscribed NO 6 OF 100 has a foreground in light shadow, while brilliant sunshine brightens the treetops as well as 264

the walls and spires within the distant canyon. Without heavy outlines, the pine trees have a diaphanous quality, and thin, horizontal blue lines on their trunks enhance their ﬂatness and lack of density. An impression stamped 59 is in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newﬁelds (pl. 80.1). Pale hues of violet, blue, pink, and ochre dominate the image, coloring the sky, the canyon, the clouds, the trees, and the foreground. The lack of contrast among the hues lends the image an ephemeral quality. Ochre and grayish tree trunks appear transparent, weighted only by heavy, black vertical lines and outlines. Black, printed last from a new key block, grades the foreground with horizontal lines and adds tall grasses at the right edge, texture to

80.2 New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe. 904.23G

in the collection of Gerald Peters (pl. 80.3) shares a similar vibrant color palette with late impressions from the ﬁrst edition; however, the yellow hue on the tower formations within the canyon is brighter, and the shadows on the pines are not as bold. The dark pines are ﬁrmly anchored to the foreground, but their lower trunks are translucent, and the black lines texturing the lower tree trunks and the ground have lost much of their impact. Two solid lines form the border. exhibitions: 1922 Chicago (1); 1922 New York; 1923 New York; 1923 Rochester; 1925 Chicago (2); 1926 Washington, D.C.; 1928 Denver; 1928 Tucson;1 1929 Dayton;2 1930 Worcester;3 1930 Richmond, Ind.;4 1931 Indi-

Santa Fe; 1991 Denver;6 1993 Santa Fe; 2012 Phoenix;7 2015 Indianapolis. references: American Academy of Arts 1922, cat. 281; Chicago 1922b, cat. 13; Montross Gallery 1923, p. [3]; Rochester 1923, cat. 98; 80.3 Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe

Washington 1926, no. 1; Eggers 1928, ill. p. 10; Butler 1931, cat. 2; Santa Fe 1952, cat. 91; Fort

the trunks and branches of the pine trees,

trunks of the pines are boldly anchored and

and branches to the small conifer just left of

contrasted against the light-ﬁlled canyon.

center. Horizontal blue lines appear in the

The tops of the pines are bathed in an orange

foreground, and violet crosshatching spans

light, and pink brightens the tall grasses at

the sky. Ochre was intended to sharpen

their base. Dark pink clouds ﬂoat along the

the canyon’s formations, but these darker

horizon and, in the upper right, white clouds

shapes of color have no anchor and appear

interrupt the solid blue and violet bands

to ﬂoat as clouds. Upper portions of the

of sky. Blue adds foliage to the pines and

pines are bathed in bright light, while the

conifer and a bright note of color to the dark

lower trunks are grounded in shadow. An

earth at the base of the pines. As the edition

impression acquired by the Art Institute of

progressed, the colors became more brilliant,

Chicago in 1923, stamped 54 and inscribed

clearly deﬁning each pictorial element. Two

second printing (1923.477), and an impression

solid lines form the border.

stamped 42 in the New Mexico Museum of Art (pl. 80.2) have equally vibrant colors. Baumann changed his color palette to deeper hues, and his colors and sequencing of blocks create brilliant highlights and strong contrasts. Hues of pink, blue, violet, and yellow form the canyon’s walls, spires, and shadows. Darkened and in shadow, the lower

edition ii: From a projected edition of 120, the impression found with the highest number is inscribed 28-120. Impressions were printed in seven colors by the artist on cream Ansbach wove paper. The edition size, block-printed title, and use of the Ansbach paper suggest that this edition was begun about 1938. An impression inscribed 17-120

Collins 1973; Santa Fe 1981, p. [4]; Krause et al. 1993, ﬁg. 38; Thomas 1999, ill. cover; Traugott 2007b, pl. 11; Gerald Peters Gallery 2013, ill. p. 76; Krause 2015, ill. p. 120. repositories: AIC; CMA; FJJMA and PMA (joint holding); HFJMA; IMA; NMMA; WAM. Baumann ventured to the Grand Canyon for the ﬁrst time in 1919. The light and colors proved elusive, but he returned many times to his hiding place along the South Rim. In letters and on consignment forms, the title Pines Grand Canyon was frequently abbreviated to Grand Canyon, thus contributing to the confusion over the date of the later woodcut Grand Canyon (cat. 145). The road west is another story, branching off towards the north it leads to the Painted Desert and Grand Canyon where the atmosphere plays tricks and you see things that are not really there. It is an

Editioned Color Woodcuts | 1905–1962 |

anapolis;5 1931 Youngstown; 1952 Santa Fe (3); 1972 Santa Fe; 1973 Fort Collins; 1981

265

91 David Owsley Museum of Art, Ball State University, Muncie. 000.196.012

284

drawing in the New Mexico Museum of Art (1980.28.487) includes the ﬁgure and goat, but there they are shown at the back of the church of San Francisco de Asís. For his woodcut, Baumann placed them at the side of the church.

92 Night of the Fiesta 1924 Alternative titles: Fiesta Night; Fiesta Taos; Night of the Fiesta, Taos; Night of the Fiesta — Taos; Taos at Night Color woodcut

1 Temporary Registration and Ofﬁcial Action

form (T.R.-No. 431), 3 March 1925. 2 Consignment form, 29 January 1929. 3 Estella M. King to Gustave Baumann, correspondence, 14 February 1930 and [February 1930], GBA. 4 TR no. 4259. Loan for exhibition from Annex Galleries, Santa Rosa, California, dated 20 October 1981, no. 56.

Image: 6 × 75/8 in. (15.2 × 19.4 cm) Baumann inv. no. 48 edition i: From a projected edition of 100, the impression found with the highest number is inscribed NO 23 OF 100. Impressions were printed in ﬁve colors by the artist on cream Zanders Bergisch Gladbach laid paper. The pastel study is in the collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art (1980.28.109), and a related graphite drawing is in the Baumann estate.

An impression inscribed NO 18 OF 100 is in the David Owsley Museum of Art (pl. 92.1). Impressions from this edition are distinguished by the strong contrast of the dark purple shadows against the moonlit adobe. Negative space creates highlights on the ladders, the rooﬂines, and the vigas, and dark crosshatching runs along the upper edge of the image. A solid line forms the interior border, and a dotted line forms the exterior border. edition ii: From a projected edition of 125, the impression found with the highest number is inscribed 119-125. Impressions were printed in ﬁve colors by the artist on cream Zanders laid paper with the Bergisch Gladbach or the Hand-in-Heart watermark.

Impressions are titled Night of the Fiesta— Taos. Baumann inscribed Reprint 1931 – 32 on his “Catalogue of Color Wood-Cuts” and drew a brace to include Night of the Fiesta and the other 11 color woodcuts in his New Mexico Portfolio. This reprint would have been the beginning of this edition, as an impression numbered 32-125 was donated to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1934 (1934.56). An impression inscribed 46-125 is in the New Mexico Museum of Art (pl. 92.2). A newly carved gray block softens the deﬁnition of the pictorial elements and adds highlights to the vigas, the ladders, and the rooﬂines. Gray is pronounced along the lower third of the image and the portion of the adobe bordering the right side of the image. Orange ochre colors the multistoried and the shadows cast by the vigas. Purple also cools the shadowed side of the structure at the right edge. Blue colors the sky,

92.1 David Owsley Museum of Art, Ball State University, Muncie. 000.196.004

and green adds highlights to the patterned blankets and shawl. A thin line of dark crosshatching runs along the upper image, and a single dotted line forms the border. exhibitions: 1924 Santa Fe (2); 1925 Indianapolis;1 1926 Washington, D.C.; 1929 Day-

ton;2 1930 Chicago (1);3 1930 Worcester;4 1932 Santa Fe; 1935 Santa Fe (1);5 1936 Stan-

ford;6 1952 Santa Fe (3); 1961 Santa Fe (1); 1961 Colorado Springs;7 1971 Santa Fe;8 1972 Santa

285

Fe; 1973 Fort Collins; 1979 Fort Collins; 1980 Fort Collins; 1980 Mount Vernon, Ill.; 1981

Topeka; 1981 Santa Fe; 1981 Indianapolis;9 2012 Phoenix;10 2015 Taos; 2015 Indianapolis.

references: El Palacio 1924c, p. 289; El Palacio 1925a, p. 36; Washington 1926, no. 32; Santa Fe 1932, cat. 14; Santa Fe 1952, cat. 80; Santa Fe 1961, cat. 24; Beall 1970, Baumann no. 5; Fort Collins 1973; Fort Collins 1979, cat. 14; Fort Collins 1980, cat. 14; Mount Vernon 1980, no. [9], p. [9]; Annex Galleries 1981, ill. p. [16]; Santa Fe 1981, p. [3]; OwingsDewey 1998, ill. p. [8]; White et al. 1999, ﬁg. 20; Owings-Dewey 2001, ill. p. [10]; Gerald

Editioned Color Woodcuts | 1905–1962 |

adobe, and purple creates its door openings

92.2 New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe. 893.23G

Peters Gallery 2013, ill. p. 70; Owings Gallery 2014, ill. p. 27.

354

126 Linda J. Brown Collection, Ross, California

Baumann began a road trip from Santa Fe

The sea is beautiful and still available

to Southern California in late March 1928

in spots. . . . So much lush green around

and by early April he was in San Diego.

here there are all sorts of grand swells — in

His letters home to his wife Jane, often

places the cultivated ﬁelds go right to the

written on hotel stationery, offer clues to

edge of the cliffs — gorgeous tree growth

his itinerary. From San Diego, he drove

as a rule but altogether too beautiful to

northward on the Paciﬁc Highway along

really enjoy by myself excepting from the

the California Coast Ranges and stopped

work point of view[,] the three of us could

along the way in search of sketching mate-

have a grand vacation here.10

rial. He lingered in San Juan Capistrano before heading to Laguna Beach, where he arrived on 7 April 1928. He wrote to Jane the following day, which happened to be Easter Sunday:

1 Consignment form, 29 January 1929. 2 Estella M. King to Gustave Baumann, corre-

spondence, 14 February 1930 and [February 1930], GBA. 3 Curatorial list, 24 February 1930.

4 The exhibition was organized by the Rich-

5 6 7

8 9 10

mond Art Association, Richmond, Indiana, and traveled to Indianapolis; Baumann’s consignment form, annotated “48 / Oct 25 30 / Art Association Richmond Indiana,” and the Temporary receipt 1607, from Richmond Art Association, 15 December 1930, item no. 34. See note 4. Consignment form, dated 23 November 1936. TR no. 4259. Loan for exhibition from Annex Galleries, Santa Rosa, California, dated 20 October 1981, no. 47. Curatorial checklist no. 8. Venue Object Summary (curatorial ﬁles), no. 7. Gustave Baumann to Jane Baumann, letter, Easter [8 April] 1928, GBA.

127 Pelican Rookery 1928 Color woodcut Image: 95/8 × 113/8 in. (24.5 × 28.9 cm) Baumann inv. no. 93 edition: There are a total of 64 recorded impressions from two different printing campaigns. In 1928, Baumann recorded printing 31 impressions from a projected edition of 120. The impression found with the highest number is inscribed no 29 of 120. Impressions were printed in six colors by the artist on cream Zanders Bergisch Gladbach laid paper or on cream Zanders laid paper with the Hand-in-Heart watermark. The tempera study, the six basswood blocks, and the progressive proofs are in the Library of (PR13 CN 2010:135). The tempera, inscribed Black/ Red / Blue Purple / Blue / Blue Green / Yellow, has been heavily rubbed with graphite on the verso, and the pictorial elements are outlined with graphite, indications that

127.1 Brigitte and Richard Halvorsen Collection, Columbus, Indiana

the design was transferred directly to the blocks. Baumann inscribed the verso of the black block Aug 1928 31 imp., noting that 31 impressions were printed in August 1928. An impression inscribed no 22 of 120 is in the collection of Brigitte and Richard Halvorsen (pl. 127.1). These are brilliant impressions with rich, saturated colors. Blue printed

355

over lavender creates the ocean currents, and lavender combines with reddish purple to form the swells. Turquoise-green waves break on the rocks, and ochre crosshatching arches over the upper portion of the image. A solid line forms the interior border, and a dotted line forms the exterior border. In 1936, Baumann recorded printing 33 impressions, but rather than continuing to number them over 120, these impressions are numbered over 125 and are inscribed with the roman numeral II. The impression found with the highest number is inscribed II 60-125. The progressive proofs that are in the Library of Congress illustrate the consecutive printing of black, red-purple, violet, turquoise blue, turquoise green, and gold

Editioned Color Woodcuts | 1905–1962 |

Congress Prints and Photographs Division

127.2 New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe. 911.23G

ochre from six blocks. This set is inscribed Pelican Rookery 93 progressive May 1936

136.1 New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe. 964.23G

372

watermark. A tempera study of the blossom-

An impression inscribed no 12-120 is in

aluminum leaf indicate Baumann’s contin-

ing tree is in the New Mexico Museum of

the New Mexico Museum of Art (pl. 136.1).

ued experimentation with color and mate-

Art (4536.23P). The completed tempera, also

A luminous, atmospheric sky of alumi-

rials. A scalloped line forms a decorative border at the bottom of the image.

in this collection (3948.23P), has a silver sky.

num leaf backdrops a ﬂowering almond

For his woodcut, Baumann employed alumi-

tree. Black underscores the tree trunk, its

num leaf to emulate the silver in his original

branches, and the robes of the nuns. At the

design. In his “Catalogue of Color Wood-

top of the tree, bare black branches extend

Cuts,” he recorded a reprinting as Reprint

beyond the blossoms and touch the upper

1931-32 and, on the verso, as an alternative

edge of the image. Gray or turquoise green

title, he wrote Procession. This reprint would

adds folds and rufﬂes to the girls’ white

have been the second of three printing

communion dresses, and gray colors many

campaigns within this edition. Impressions

of the blossoms. Blue is limited to the lower

from the third campaign, completed in or

portion of the image, coloring the girls’

prior to 1934, are inscribed with the roman

stockings and brightening the nuns’ robes.

numeral III. An impression inscribed 98 III

The few impressions with gold rather than

120 entered the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1934 (1934.42).

edition ii: From a projected edition of 75, the impression found with the highest number is inscribed 27-75 1936. Impressions were printed in 1936 in ﬁve colors by the artist on cream Zanders laid paper with the Hand-inHeart watermark or an unidentiﬁed wove paper. These impressions are often dated after the edition number. Baumann’s roster of titles, giving his inventory number, the title, and the number of impressions printed in this color variation, reads “101 Processional-to 75 blue sky printing.” These impressions

have a blue sky, and this annotation implies that the edition was completed. edition iii: An edition of 125 impressions was printed in four or ﬁve colors by the artist on cream Zanders laid paper with the Hand-in-Heart watermark or cream Ansbach wove paper. In March 1951, Baumann printed an edition of 75 impressions, and he numbered and dated them to read III 32 / 75 1951. These impressions have a blue sky, and the edition number precedes the roman numeral II or III and is often followed by the date. A four-color palette in the Baumann archive is inscribed Processional March 1951. Progressive proofs in the Baumann estate illustrate the

consecutive printing of black, turquoise blue,

exhibitions: 1930 Santa Fe (2); 1930 Rich-

gold ochre, gray-green, and orange from ﬁve

mond, Ind.;1 1931 Indianapolis;2 1931 Mem-

blocks. An impression inscribed III 38-75

phis; 1932 Santa Fe; 1935 San Antonio; 1935

1951 is in the Indianapolis Museum of Art

Santa Fe (1);3 1936 Stanford;4 1946 Roswell;

at Newfields (pl. 136.2). In 1956, Baumann printed the second and final campaign of the edition, and these impressions are numbered over 125, inscribed with the roman numeral III, and dated 1956. Impressions from this portion of the edition alternate between an aluminum-leaf or blue sky. Crosshatching arches over the sky, and nude branches no longer pierce it. Blue has been removed from the girls’ stockings, but gray-green enhances the details of their dresses and colors the blossoms of the flowering tree. A scalloped line forms a decorative border at the bottom of the image.

1948 Indianapolis;5 1952 Santa Fe (3); 1956

Santa Fe (2);6 1975 Washington, D.C.; 1980

Roswell;7 1991 Denver;8 1993 Santa Fe; 2012

Phoenix;9 2012 Winter Park;10 2014 Las Cruces; 2015 Indianapolis. references: Santa Fe 1930b, cat. 12; Memphis 1931, cat. 36; Santa Fe 1932, cat. 13; San

Antonio 1935, n.p.; Roswell 1946, cat. 2; Santa Fe 1952, cats. 153, 154; El Palacio 1957, p. 63; Morning New Mexican 1967, ill. p. 8; Beall 1970, Baumann no. 7; Farmer 1975, cat. 39, ill. p. 28; Daley 1991, ill. p. 29; Daley 1992, ill. p. 54; Acton 1993, ill. p. 29; Krause

Editioned Color Woodcuts | 1905–1962 |

136.2 Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfelds. 2011.250

373

references: Chicago 1939, cat. 116; New York 1939, cat. 823, ill. p. 249; Santa Fe 1952, cat. 145; Roswell (Bulletin) 1957, p. [3]; Santa Fe 1958, cat. 5; Santa Fe 1961, cat. 32; Annex Galleries 1981, ill. p. [19]; Annex Galleries 1985, cat. 22; Wilson 1988, p. 558; Krause et al. 1993, pl. 77; Owings-Dewey 2001, ill. p. 2; Annex Galleries 2005, ill. p. [10]; Traugott 2007b, pl. 48; Owings Gallery 2010, ill. p. 9; Gerald Peters Gallery 2013, ill. p. 85. repositories: FJJMA and PMA (joint holding); NMMA; NYPL; stMA; WAM. Tesuque Pueblo is situated on the west bank of the Tesuque River, which irrigates the pasturelands, orchards, and cottonwoods of the lush Tesuque Valley north of Santa Fe. 1 Baumann, “Feb 1939,” bound print record, 1934–41, MS, GBA.

2 Consignment Agreement, 19 February 1945. 3 Baumann’s print was included in the exhibition but omitted from the checklist.

4 Curatorial checklist no. [8]. 5 TR no. 4259. Loan for exhibition from Annex

159.1 Gilbert Waldman Collection, Phoenix

Galleries, Santa Rosa, California, dated 20 October 1981, no. 37. 6 Jerry N. Smith, curator of American and Western art, Phoenix Art Museum, and Gil Waldman, collector, to Gala Chamberlain, personal communications, GBA.

160 Winter Corral 1940

410

Color woodcut Image i: 127/8 × 127/8 in. (32.7 × 32.7 cm) Image ii: 123/4 × 123/4 in. (32.4 × 32.4 cm) Baumann inv. no. 124 edition i: From a projected edition of 125, the impression found with the highest number is inscribed I 26-125. Impressions were printed in ﬁve colors by the artist on cream Zanders laid paper with the Hand-in-Heart watermark. Baumann’s handwritten printing roster, recording his inventory number, title, and the year of the ﬁrst printing campaign, reads “124 Winter Corral 1940.” Early proofs and the tempera study, inscribed black / orange / yellow / green / black / sky green / yellow / pink / yellow-green, are in the Baumann estate. The imagery of these 159.2 New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe. 956.23G

Editioned Color Woodcuts | 1905–1962 | 411

160.1 Baumann Estate

434

176 New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe. 898.23G

Editioned Color Woodcuts | 1905–1962 |

177.1 Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe

435

177.2 New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe. 968.23G

576

chronology 1881â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1971

Gala Chamberlain