El Velorio

 

Gustave Baumann

  1881 - 1971 (biography)

1927 /1929 

color woodcut 

8 1/8 x 8 1/4" image 

pencil, lower right 

41-100; this is actually from an edition of 120 but was misnumbered 

titled in block letters, lower left 

GB86, Chamberlain 118, this impression described on page 338 in In A Modern Rendering The Color Woodcuts of Gustave Baumann 

cream Zanders laid with the Bergisch Gladbach watermark 

published 

artist 

AB4306 

$18,000.00 

This impression of El Velorio is opaquely printed in rich, vibrant colors. At the time of this printing campaign, Baumann was using oil as the vehicle to mix his ground pigments and, as a result, the colors are saturated and brilliant. In 1927, Baumann projected his editions at 120 rather than 100 and this switch caused a few editioning nightmares for the artist. El Velorio is representative of Baumann’s profound respect for the cultures and religions of the Southwest. In his manuscripts, Baumann wrote: "When about a century ago we found ourselves in material and cultural possession of the Southwest it proved to be a paradise for both Archeologist and Ethnologist. People not only had lived here long ago but other people were still living here minding their own business as well as they might with the cultural mores of Spain and Mexico as their heritage. As a latecomer, a white man and an Artist interested in life I too had an insatiable curiosity about the Southwest and its people—how they lived, loved and worshiped."