Baumann, Gustave, 1881-1971

Gustave Baumann (1881-1971) was born in Magdeburg, Germany. During a brief period of study in Munich (1905) he created his first woodcuts. As a young boy, Baumann imigrated to Chicago where he began his career in a commercial-arts studio. At night he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, as he put it to get nearer to art. He also had strong ties to the Brown County (IN) colony, and created scenes of purity, beauty, and ease that spoke of an innocence in America.

In New York and Provincetown, he widened his circle of artistic associations to include the printmakers Ethal Mars, L.O. Griffith, and B.J.O. Nordfeldt. On the advice of fellow artist Walter Ufer, Baumann traveled to Taos, New Mexico, in the spring of 1918.

...