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.

Because of the physical and time demands required to produce a color woodcut, Baumann seldom pulled a complete edition in one printing session. Information about the editions has been painstakingly derived directly from his woodcuts as Baumann kept no written records. Early printings were often limited to 100 to 200 works and often numbered with the artist’s stamp. He later standardized his editions to 125 although in some instances he created less or a few more.

The exceptional quality of Baumann’s work resulted from his working at printmaking as a full-time job. He wrote that to make a color woodcut requires “sharp tools, a complete disregard for time and considerable patience in waiting.” Baumann is considered by many to be the “best of the best” of any color woodcut artist who ever worked in this difficult medium. Today, original woodcuts by Gustave Baumann cost thousands of dollars if and when you can find them.

Buyer Beware:  If you are going to spend a lot of money for a Baumann woodcut, read the following quote from an actual Ebay auction description and make sure you know what you are buying! I am confident not all sellers would mention they were selling a reproduction. 

"But you don’t need to win the lottery to own his work. Just as finely crafted furniture from past eras has been replicated because the makers are gone, this is a fine reproduction of PINES. Indeed, it is one of the best reproductions I have seen in over a decade of selling both original and replicated Baumann woodcuts. It was made using contemporary lithograph printing techniques, however you will be very surprised how authentic the signature and hand-in-the-heart chop mark look and how good the colors are…..even the paper has texture. Several of the out-of-print reproductions have gone on to become valuable themselves."