Cliff Dwellings by Gustave Baumann

Cliff Dwellings by Gustave Baumann

Cliff Dwellings

Gustave Baumann

Title

Cliff Dwellings

 
Artist
Year
1924 /1931 
Technique
color woodcut 
Image Size
7 3/8 x 6 1/4" image 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
54-125 
Annotations
titled, lower left 
Reference
Chamberlain 87; Baumann 43 
Paper
cream laid Zanders with the Hand-in-Heart watermark 
State
published 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
AB4075 
Price
SOLD
Description
An immense amount of mood is captured within a small window of observation in this image of a centuries-old pine clinging to the cliff edge of Frijoles Canyon. From the second edition printed in 1931-'32, Baumann has brightened the inks of "Cliff Dwellings" a bit; the golden sky now stretches to the left edge of the image and the contrasting atmostpheric colors (hot and cool) of the high desert are expertly portrayed. Said Baumann of this view, "Drowsy days in a land that had been asleep for centuries--not even the presence of the surveyor archeologist artist journalist and the ubiquitous movie man could break the spell--one might sit under the tall pines hearing the waters of the little river of El beans or more poetically called El Rito de los Frijoles, while beyond the lacy silhouettes of the Pine and Poplar one sees the sheer cliffs and at their foot the remains of habitation that invite one to speculate as to just what life must have been there in bygone days..." (p. 279, In a Modern Rendering: The Color Woodcuts of Gustave Baumann)