Rainy Day Promenade

Gustave Baumann

'Attempting to capture the atmospheric quality of a rainy day, Baumann printed pale, pastel hues in transparent washes, and this transparency allowed the paper color to mottle the expansive sky.' - Chamberlain, p. 200, In a Modern Rendering: The Color Woodcuts of Gustave Baumann.

"Rainy Day Promenade" captures the garden and fountain at Lydia Coonley Ward's summer home, Hillside, in Wyoming, New York. A playful pair walk the paths that grace the grounds of the artist's haven, which, for a few years leading up to World War I, was a summer school organized by Ward for the enrichment of the residents of Wyoming.

Nancy E. Green writes writes about Baumann's time in New York in her essay in the catalogue raisonne, on pp. 42 and 43, noting that in July and August of 1917 Baumann taught at Hillside. It was also there that he founded his earliest press, Swanli, as signified by the early, swan-graced chop in the lower right of "Rain Day Promenade". Though short-lived, Swanli nevertheless helped Baumann hone his skills in capturing the shifting moods of East Coast summer weather.