Gustave Baumann — Revered Arts and Crafts Printmaker

This New Mexico treasure has the “hand of a craftsman, heart of an artist.”

Gustave Baumann once wrote: “Given a free choice in the matter, I would have selected the Southwest as the place to be born. I would then have learned Spanish, along with riding a horse and predicting the weather.”

Grand Canon, 1930
Grand Canon, 1930, Gustave Baumann

Having had the opportunity to spend time in several areas of acheterdufrance.com the southwest: Grand Canyon; southwest Colorado; Zion, Bryce and Canyonlands parks in Utah. I can appreciate the wonder with which he approached these places.

These locations are all about the light on the incredible geography that makes the area so unique. You need to see it believe it. It’s transcendent and unlike any other place in the world. It defines natural beauty. The Arts & Crafts woodblock prints Baumann made while living in New Mexico are startling in their brilliant representation of the landscape, people and human folkways around him.

From Germany to Chicago to Indiana

Baumann was born in Germany and moved to Chicago with his family when he was ten years old. He settled on an art career

F.; Yurtseven, Madeline Carol; Acton, David (1993). Gustave Baumann Nearer to Art. Museum of New Mexico Press.
Padilla, Carmella (Spring 2009). “Ann Baumann; Her Life in a Home

Full of Art”. El Palacio 114 (1): 51. Retrieved 2013-01-23.

Singing Trees, 1928
Singing Trees, 1928, Gustave Baumann