Hand of a Craftsman: The Woodcut Technique of Gustave Baumann
Independent, prolific and influential, Gustave Baumann stands at  the center of the American color woodcut movement in the first half of  the twentieth century. Designed and conceived to complement the book  Gustave Baumann: Nearer to Art (MNMP 1993) which focused on the  artist's life and development as a printmaker, Hand of a Craftsman: The  Woodcut Technique of Gustave Baumann concentrates on Baumann's  printmaking methods and his remarkable achievement as one of the most  masterful American craftsman of his age. Hand of a Craftsman features  the unpublished notes and progressives that Baumann compiled in the  making of his extraordinary woodcut, Grand Canon. The two gouache  studies and thirty-four proofs in this series document the many shifts,  false starts, and experiments encountered during the process of  creating this six-color woodcut, offering a rare perspective into the  artist's meticulous technique. Through the medium of the color woodcut  Baumann's prints continue to delight viewers with the constant  inspiration he found in nature. The book includes reproductions of  fifty color woodcuts, most never before published. His works are vivid,  brilliantly colorful, nature-inspired scenes of indigenous American  life in the rural Midwest, Southwest, and Pacific Coast. Hand of a  Craftsman celebrates this great artist revealing the fascinating  process of color woodcut printmaking and reveling in the spirit of his  process --Journal of the Print World,Fall 1996Much contemporary printmaking is accomplished by a collaboration  between an artist, often a painter, and a master printer. Gustave  Baumann, however, was both, so reading the present book, a precise and  informative discussion of his technique as a woodcut artist, is a  doubly rich experience. Acton, curator of prints and drawings at the  Worcester Art Museum, has put together drawings and state proofs of  several color woodcuts as well as some photos of the actual wood  blocks, showing Baumann's meticulous process of image development.  Acton's commentary is lucid and thorough, so that both the layperson  and the student of printmaking have something to learn. Baumann  (1881-1971) was born in Germany but emigrated with his family to the US  at the age of ten. He returned to Germany to study art in the 20s,  coming under the influence of Jugendstil in Munich. He lived most of  his life in New Mexico, and his many color woodcuts pay homage to that  landscape. Chronology; excellent reproductions. Recommended for  libraries at colleges where printmaking is taught. --D. Lent, Choice, January 1997