Print of the Day!! Sat, Dec 30, 2023 is by Gustave Baumann (1881-1971). "May Your New Year Have a Bright Silver Lining"; color woodcut, 1960.

Print of the Day!! Saturday, December 30, 2023. Is by printmaker Gustave Baumann (1881-1971).

"May Your New Year Have a Bright Silver Lining" is a relief print, a woodcut, printed in torquoise green ink and attached to a thin sheet of laid paper with silver aluminum leaf and folded in quarters, done in 1960 by American? master printmaker Gustave Baumann (1881-1971). The images measure 4-9/16 x 2-3/4 inches and the pages each measure 5 x 3-1/4 inches. This greeting card is block annotated with the title on a woodcut attached to silver aluminum leaf on the recto and silver aluminum leaf on the verso. The interior pages are silver aluminum leaf on the left and a color woodcut that reads "Gustave / and Jane / Baumann / Santa Fe / N. Mex" on the right. The two woodcuts were cut and printed by the artist on Ansbach paper. It was not formally editioned. A reference for this image is Chamberlain 381, illustrated on page 564, In A Modern Rendering The Color Woodcuts of Gustave Baumann. Our inventory number for this important scarce work is AB4324.

This impression is a duplicate from the Baumann estate, which the Annex Galleries has represented for almost 50 years. The silver is difficult to capture accurately and is not the platinum color I display on my monitor.

This scarce single color woodcut by American woodcut master Gustave Baumann (1881-1971) is available from the gallery for purchase.

Contact the gallery for price and with any condition or other questions. Shipping costs will be discussed. California residents will have sales tax added. Out of state residents may be responsible for use tax, depending on state law.

The New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe is presenting an exhition titled "Art from the Heart & Good Cheer for the New Year: Gustave Baumann and artists' friends holiday card exhibition" that runs from November 17, 2023 through February 18, 2024.

The exhibition showcases a selection of Baumann's holiday cards,?spanning the years 1918 to 1967.?These cards feature a variety of subjects,?including depictions of Baumann's home in Santa Fe,?his family and friends,?and scenes from New Mexican landscapes.?Visitors will also have the opportunity to view Baumann's woodblock printing tools and learn about the process involved in creating woodcut prints.?

The exhibition delves into Baumann's artistic circle,?highlighting the creative connections he forged with fellow artists like Willard Clark,?J.?J.?Lankes,?Olive Rush,?Donald Dohner,?Eliza Draper Gardiner,?Dandy Low,?and Chuzo Tamotzu.?These artists exchanged handmade cards during the holidays,?showcasing their artistic talents and camaraderie.

Baumann's first known Christmas card dates to 1905 but it wasn't until 1913 when he was established in his studio in Brown County, Indiana, that he produced another. Cards followed over the years and most were carved and printed by Baumann. When his schedule was tight he would arrange for Willard Clark, fellow Santa Fe printmaker, to letterpress print his cards.

The early cards reflect the regions that they were produced in. The cards from Baumann's Brown County days illustrate the people and landscape around Nashville, Indiana. After he moved to the Southwest, Native Americans, Hispanics, rodeos, ceremonial dances, and the flavor (ristras of chile) of Santa Fe, influenced Baumann's designs for his cards.

In the mid 1920s, Baumann's cards focused on domesticity. The card for 1925 featured the German inspired dining room in his home. His card for 1927 was a geographical treatise showing his residential lot with the newly built studio behind the house. His daughter, Ann, was born in 1927 and his 1928 Christmas card illustrating diapers on the clothesline provided this weather forecast for Santa Fe and vicinity: "Generally fair and cool with moderate humidity in the laundry/perambulator unsettled/ studio quiet/ much snow in the mountains".

Baumann's holiday cards from the next four decades would on occasion reflect world events. The design of a volcano for the cover of his 1937 Hollerday Greetings was certainly influenced by the super volcanic eruption that occurred at the site of Yellowstone National Park on July 18, 1936. His card for Christmas 1944 with the words "we remember you" is a tribute to the soldiers fighting in World War II. In 1957, Baumann produced a card with an expectation of a "Bleepless New Year as of long ago" since the Russian satellite, Sputnik, launched on October 4, 1957, had ceased sending its beeping radio signals once its batteries died. His "Happy New Era" card of 1967 designed with hearts certainly relates to the "summer of love" and the "dawning of the Age of Aquarius."

For this greeting card done in 1960 for the New Year of 1961, Baumann provides a "a bright silver lining" with his use of a sheet of silver reflective coated paper that he affixed his woodcuts to. Baumann's fascination with the reflective nature of silver dates to 1928 when he introduced aluminum leaf as a color in his woodcut, Song of the Sea.

Gustave Baumann was born in Magdeburg, Germany on 27 June 1881. Ten years later his family immigrated to the US, settling in Chicago. In 1896, Baumann began working in the commercial art field while saving money to study in Germany. After returning from Munich in December 1905 where he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Baumann worked again in commercial art to support his family. In 1909, he discovered Brown County, Indiana where life was inexpensive and he could stay for three months. He produced a series of small format color woodcuts featuring the people and places of Brown County and then produced five large format color woodcuts.

His woodcuts were accepted by the committee for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition and he won a gold medal in 1916. Baumann headed east to Wyoming, New York in 1917 and taught at a summer school. From there he headed to Provincetown Massachusetts, and New York City before returning to set up his studio in Wyoming. The southwest beckoned and he headed west in May 1918, stopping in Taos for the summer and fall. His funds were low and he needed to head back to Chicago but first stopped at the new art museum in Santa Fe to see an exhibition of his woodcuts. The rest, as they say, is history.

To purchase this greeting card, see other works, or read a biography for Gustave Baumann use this link: https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/artist/140/Baumann/Gustave

Use this link to view our complete inventory on our website: https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory?q=