Gustave Baumann: Nearer to Art
Independent, prolific, and influential, Gustave Baumann stands  at the center of American woodcut printmaking in the first half of the  century. He created vivid, brilliantly colorful nature-inspired scenes  of rural American life and Indian cultures. His prints are simple and  elegant studies rooted in a landscape that is both delicate and rugged.  This award-winning book is the first published collection of his  stunning oeuvre. Starting out as a commercial illustrator, at night  Baumann studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, "to get nearer to  art," and also briefly in Munich, refining the fundamentals of his  artistic direction and creating his first woodcuts in a medium that  would bring him international recognition. Baumann lived in Chicago and  Brown County, Indiana, and then spent more than a half-century in Santa  Fe, taking frequent side trips about the West and California and  creating his most beloved prints. AIGA, Fifty Best Books, 1993. RMBPA,  Best Illustrated Book, 1994. AAM, Design Competition, Second Prize,  1994