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)