In a Modern Rendering

Book excerpt: A tribute to Gustave Baumann, a master color-woodcut artist whose prints helped form a popular image of America's natural beauty that has endured from the first half of the twentieth century to today. Endowed with a deft hand and an eye for luminous color, Baumann (1881-1971) transformed American woodblock printing over his seventy-year career. This complete record of the artist's printed works, three decades in the making, includes early etchings and linocuts, 182 editioned color woodcuts, and hundreds of printed ephemera. More than 1,000 precise reproductions, many published for the first time, are illuminated by essays tracing Baumann's biography, techniques, and artistic practices. An expressive carver, Baumann handled the entire printing process himself, making him a key figure in the American Arts and Crafts movement. German-born, Baumann settled in Santa Fe and became a central figure in the artistic community. His brilliantly colored landscapes of the Southwest and California coastline, celebrated in his day, are highly sought after by collectors today. This monumental publication allows for an unprecedented appreciation of one of the finest color-woodblock artists of the twentieth century.