Aspen–Red River

Gustave Baumann's vivid color woodcut print Aspen–Red River presents a grove of white-barked aspen trees whose golden leaves seem to flicker against a mountain backdrop and a dazzling blue sky. Baumann typically based his prints on gouache drawings he made on site. This splendid example of his remarkable skill in color woodcut technique depicts the Red River area in the mountains of northern New Mexico, near Taos, where the artist summered for the first time in 1918. He made this print shortly thereafter, although some print scholars date it to 1925. Captivated by the Southwest landscape, Baumann settled permanently in Santa Fe.

  A meticulous printmaker, Bauman carved his wood blocks using the traditional European color woodcut method of one block for each color. He mixed his own color inks and printed each impression himself, carefully inscribing them. He printed both Aspen–Red River and Bound for Taos (TF 1996.13) on his favorite paper, a special oatmeal-colored textured stock made to his specifications by a paper mill in Gladbach, in his native Germany, until it was destroyed in World War II.

Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920 (The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 15, 1999. [exh. cat.]

Le Japonisme en Amérique: oeuvres sur papier, 1880–1930 (Japonisme in America: Works on Paper, 1880–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, September 15–November 30, 2002.

Manifest Destiny, Manifest Responsibility: Environmentalism and the Art of the American Landscape.  Terra Foundation  for American Art, Chicago, Illinois and Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Loyola University Museum of Art,  May 17–August 10, 2008. [exh. cat.]

Terra Collection-in-Residence, Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, United Kingdom, September 15, 2022–September 30, 2026.

 

Krause, Martin F., Madeline Carol Yurtseven and David Acton. Gustave Baumann: Nearer to Art. (exh. cat., Museum of New Mexico). Santa Fe, New Mexico: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1993. No. 92, p. 118 (color).

Brownlee, Peter John. Manifest Destiny / Manifest Responsibility: Environmentalism and the Art of the American Landscape. (exh. cat., Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art and Loyola University Museum of Art, 2008. Text p. 34 (checklist).