GUSTAVE BAUMANN
The Itch to Make Art
“ What I was certain of was the need of getting interested in something to do for itching hands and mine itched mightily when the word Art was mentioned .”
We are so fortunate that Gustave Baumann had an “itch” to create art.
That itch, combined with the “wanderlust of a tumbleweed,” eventually brought Baumann to the American Southwest and, specifically, to Santa Fe. Prior wanderings led him to Brown County, Indiana; Wyoming, New York; New York City; and Provincetown, Massachusetts. His nine years in Brown County were essential to his development as an artist and his becoming proficient in carving and printing wood blocks.
The Southwest, its landscapes, its people, its cultures, its religions, and its ceremonies, provided Baumann with seemingly endless subjects for his color woodcuts.
The Annex Galleries has represented the estate of Gustave Baumann since 1973 and we are pleased to offer this selection of works by this American master printmaker. When possible, we teamed color woodcuts with one or more of the blocks that Baumann carved to create that image. Not all woodcuts will be accompanied with blocks and, in one instance, two wood blocks for Baumann’s color woodcut Tulips are offered individually but without the color woodcut. Baumann’s wood blocks are unique works of art that bear the marks produced by his “itching hands.” They invoke our curiousity and wonder at his ability to mentally deconstruct a tempera study into a set of wood blocks and then reconstruct the image by printing blocks that left individual pure colors or overlapping colors to create images of depth and lasting beauty.
Gala Chamberlain
Fox Lake Farmyard
Color woodcut; 1908; Chamberlain 7; pencil signed; printed by the artist on Japanese paper; 6-7/8 x 8-7/8 inches image size; accompanied by the black key block which measures 7-1/4 x 9 inches. $14,500. Inventory: AB3011
Foot of South Water Street a.k.a. South Water Street, Chicago
Color woodcut; 1908; Chamberlain 9; pencil signed, titled and dated; originally published by the Graphic Arts Club, New York, in A Portfolio of Prints in an edition of 60, all unnumbered; printed by the artist on ivory laid Japanese paper; 8-3/4 x 5-3/4 inches image; this impression is illustrated on page 135 of In A Modern Rendering The Color Woodcuts of Gustave Baumann: A Catalogue Raisonné. Inventory: AB895 $5,000.
The Big Day
Color woodcut; 1909 / printed 1938; Chamberlain 11; pencil signed and titled; editioned II 14-125; printed by the artist on laid Zanders paper with the Hand-in-Heart watermark; 6-7/8 x 9-1/4 inches image size; accompanied by the green, pink, and black blocks which measure 7 x 9-1/2 inches.
Inventory: AB3070 $18,000.
The top block printed pink creating the tent and the banners while the bottom block served as the “key” block, which printed the details in black. The green block on the preceding page, printed the animals on the banners, the circus grounds, and the city beyond.
Singverein
Color woodcut; 1908; Chamberlain 12; unsigned proof printed by the artist on Japanese paper; 7-3/4 x 11 inches image size; accompanied by the purple-gray block and the black key block which measure 8-1/4 x 11-3/8 inches. $12,000.
Inventory: AB3056
The top block printed the purple-gray ink and the bottom block served as the “key” block, which printed black and defined the details of the image.
Plum
and Peach Bloom
Color woodcut; 1912 / printed in 1914; Chamberlain 30; pencil signed and titled; twenty recorded impressions; printed by the artist on ivory wove Kyokushi paper; 19-3/4 x 26-5/8 inches image size. $25,000.
Inventory: JOSE101
Summer Breezes
Color woodcut; 1916 / printed in 1924; Chamberlain 37, Baumann inv. no. 2; pencil signed and titled; editioned NO 62 OF 100; printed by the artist on cream laid Zanders Bergisch Gladbach watermarked paper; 10-7/8 x 9-3/4 inches image size. $9,500. Inventory: AB4355
Road of a Morning
Color woodcut; 1916 / printed 1927; Chamberlain 40, Baumann inv. no. 6; pencil signed and titled; editioned NO 101 OF 120; printed by the artist on cream laid Zanders Bergisch Gladbach watermarked paper; 11 x 10 inches image size. $18,000.
Inventory: AB4319
Marigolds a.k.a. Sunny Messengers
Color woodcut; 1915; Chamberlain 34; Baumann inv. no. 8; pencil signed & titled; ten known impressions; printed by the artist on Zanders Bergisch Gladbach laid paper; 11 x 9-7/8 inches image; accompanied by the purple, yellow, and green blocks. Inventory: AB4014 $27,000.
Marigolds
Wood blocks that printed purple, yellow, and green inks, each measure 12 x 11-1/2 inches. The green block bears the Hand-in-Heart chop.
Cherry Bloom
Color woodcut; 1917; Chamberlain 46, Baumann inv. no. 20; pencil signed & titled; editioned NO 65/100; printed by the artist on Zanders Bergisch Gladbach laid paper; bears the Swanli chop from his days in New York; 9-5/8 x 11-1/4 inches image. $11,000. Inventory: DOZU106
Autumnal Glory
Color woodcut; 1920; Chamberlain 75, Baumann inv. no. 61; pencil signed & titled; editioned NO 42 OF 100; printed by the artist on cream Zanders Bergisch Gladbach laid paper; 13 x 12-7/8 inches image size. $15,000. Inventory: JEHE101
Cedar Grand Canyon
Color woodcut; 1921 / printed in the late 1930s; Chamberlain 77, Baumann inv. no. 42; unsigned proof from the edition of 125; printed by the artist on cream Zanders laid paper with the Hand-in-Heart watermark; 13 x 13 inches image size.
Inventory: AB3003 $12,000.
Live Oak Landa Park
Color woodcut; 1924 / printed in 1929; Chamberlain 100, Baumann inv. no. 71; pencil signed & titled; editioned II 37-125; printed by the artist on ivory Van Gelder Zonen laid paper; 12-7/8 x 12-7/8 inches image size.
Inventory: TOPE153 $18,000.
Three Pines
Color woodcut; 1926 / printed in 1956; Chamberlain 109, Baumann inv. no. 70; pencil signed, titled, and dated -56; from an edition of 50 or fewer; printed by the artist on Zanders cream laid paper with the Hand-in-Heart watermark; 10-7/8 x 9-3/8 inches image size. Inventory: AB4356 $16,000.
Summer Rain
Color woodcut; 1926 / printed about 1940; Chamberlain 112, Baumann inv. no. 77; pencil signed & titled; editioned II 43-125; printed by the artist on Zanders laid paper with the Hand-in-Heart watermark; 9-3/8 x 11-1/8 inches image size. $28,000. Inventory: AB4317
Harden Hollow
Color woodcut; 1927; Chamberlain 116, Baumann inv. no. 16; pencil signed & titled; editioned NO 8 OF 120; printed by the artist on an unidentified textured wove paper; illustrated In A Modern Rendering The Color Woodcuts of Gustave Baumann, page 335; 9-1/4 x 11-1/8 inches image size. Inventory: AB4200 $13,000.
Hoosier Garden
Color woodcut; 1927 / printed in 1961; Chamberlain 114, Baumann inv. no. 14; pencil signed & titled; editioned R.C. 1961 99-107; printed by the artist on ivory laid CPM
Fabriano paper; 12-3/8 x 13-1/4 inches image size.
Inventory: TOPE144 $28,000.
Malapai
Color woodcut; 1927 / printed 1936; Chamberlain 122, Baumann inv. no. 84; pencil signed & titled; editioned II 61-125; printed by the artist on cream Zanders laid paper with the Hand-in-Heart watermark; 9-3/8 x 11-1/4 inches image size. $20,000. Inventory: TOPE143
Windswept Eucalyptus
Color woodcut; 1928; Chamberlain 129, Baumann inv. no. 91; pencil signed & titled; editioned NO 22 OF 120; printed by the artist on cream Zanders Bergisch Gladbach laid paper; 9-5/8 x 11-3/8 inches image size. $16,000. Inventory: AB4312
Singing Woods
Color woodcut; 1928 / printed in 1967; Chamberlain 128, Baumann inv. no. 90; pencil signed; unnumbered proof from a projected edition of 20; printed by the artist on cream wove, possibly Ansbach, paper; 12-7/8 x 12-7/8 inches image size. $18,000. Inventory: AB583
Tulips
Wood block that printed the green ink; 1930; Chamberlain 137, Baumann inv. no. 103; numbered 103 on the side of the block; 13-1/4 x 13-1/8 inches. $12,000.
Inventory: AB4342
Tulips
Wood block that printed the mastic on the paper; the mastic adhered the hand-applied aluminum leaf to the paper; 1930; Chamberlain 137, Baumann inv. no. 103; numbered 103 on the side of the block; Baumann inscribed the verso with printing information: “JUNE 1930 / first 32”; 13-1/4 x 13-1/8 inches. $12,000.
Inventory: AB4341
Grand Cañon
Color woodcut; 1934; Chamberlain 145, Baumann inv. no. 110; pencil signed & titled; editioned I 42-125; printed by the artist on Zanders laid paper with the Hand-in-Heart watermark; 12-3/4 x 12-7/8 inches image size.
Inventory: AB4316 $55,000.
Morning in Mexico
Color woodcut; 1934; Chamberlain 143, Baumann inv. no. 107; pencil signed & titled; editioned 2-120 I; there are only four known impressions; further inscribed by the artist in the lower margin: “this is the discarded first cutting and has several good things I lost in the later. Why some block cutters go crazy;” on cream Zanders laid with the Hand-inHeart watermark; illustrated In A Modern Rendering The Color Woodcuts of Gustave Baumann, page 384; 12-1/4 x 13-3/8 inches image. Baumann carved another set of blocks and reissued Morning in Mexico in 1936. $15,000. Inventory: AB3005
Song of the Sea
Color woodcut with aluminum leaf; 1936; Chamberlain 151, Baumann inv. no. 114; pencil signed & titled; editioned II 30-125; printed by the artist on cream Zanders laid paper with the Hand-in-Heart watermark; 12-3/4 x 12-7/8 inches image size. $18,000. Inventory: AB4315
Point Lobos
Color woodcut; 1936 / printed 1949; Chamberlain 148, Baumann inv. no. 111; pencil signed & titled; editioned II 31-125 ‘49; Baumann recorded printing 82 impressions; printed by the artist on cream Ansbach wove paper; 8-1/8 x 8-1/8 inches image size. $20,000.
Inventory: AB4320
Quiet Corner
Color woodcut; 1936; Chamberlain 150, Baumann inv. no. 113; pencil signed & titled; editioned II 61-125; Baumann recorded printing 71 impressions; printed by the artist on an unidentified ivory wove paper; 7-1/2 x 8-5/8 inches image size. Inventory: CB123 $18,000.
Marionette Out of San Ildefonso Church
Color woodcut; 1938; Chamberlain 157, Baumann inv. no. 120; pencil signed & titled; 13 known impressions; printed by the artist on tan Beckett paper; 6-1/8 x 7-3/8 inches image size; accompaned by the black block which measures 6-1/8 x 7-3/8 inches.
Inventory: AB861 $11,000.
Past History
Color woodcut; 1946; Chamberlain 168, Baumann inv. no. 130; pencil signed & titled; editioned I 3-125; printed by the artist on J. W. Zanders white, pebbled wove paper; 9-3/8 x 10-7/8 inches image size. $18,000. Inventory: CB139
San Miguel de Santa Fe
Color woodcut; 1949; Chamberlain 175, Baumann inv. no. 137; pencil signed & tilted; editioned I 25-125 ‘49; Baumann recorded printing 58 impressions; printed by the artist on cream Ansbach wove paper; illustrated In A Modern Rendering The Color Woodcuts of Gustave Baumann, page 432; 8 x 8-1/8 inches image size. $18,000. Inventory: AB771
Torrey Pine
Color woodcut; 1961; Chamberlain 189, Baumann inv. no. 149; pencil signed & titled; editioned I 70-125 ‘61; printed by the artist on cream Ansbach wove paper; 12 x 12-7/8 inches image size. $10,000. Inventory: AB690
Taos Corrals
Oil on panel; 1961; signed and dated in pigment in the lower left; the New Mexico Museum of Art owns the prepartory study for this painting; in an original decorative frame created by the artist; 21-3/8 x 17 inches image and panel.
Inventory: AB4031 $75,000.
Wings of Prophesy
Color woodcut; 1952 / printed 1966; Chamberlain 184, Baumann inv. no. 151; pencil signed & titled; editioned II 37-125 ‘66; printed by the artist on cream Ansbach wove paper; 9-3/4 x 12-1/2 inches image size; accompanied by the blocks that printed green ochre and black. Each is inscribed with 151 on the side of the block and each measures 9-7/8 x 12-5/8 inches. $21,000.
Inventory: AB836
Top block printed green-ochre background and the bottom block, inked in black, printed the design.
