A Cut Above the World

The story of Brown county Woodcut artist Gustave Baumann

(1881 – 1971)

Up until the early 1900s, American printmaking was a bland black and white medium used in commercial art and book illustrations.

The Japanese were the world masters of color prints usually involving a master printer and five to eight assistants who each applied a color segment to final prints.

Along came Gustave Baumann, a Brown county artist who came here in 1910 after migrating from Chicago and Germany.

Gustave had learned about Brown County’s budding art colony from another artist in Chicago. So he decided to come down and give Nashville a look.

He took the train from Chicago to explore and intermingle with artists who were setting up residence and studios in the county.

Back then there wasn’t a railroad station in Nashville, so Gustave disembarked at Helmsburg station and walked six miles through the timber to the town.

He rented two rooms above Millers Drugstore, now the Hob Nob, for $4 a month and set about creating drawings, tempra paintings, and woodcuts.

A funny thing was happening back then; artists, who were working in other mediums when they arrived in Brown county became infatuated with landscape painting because of the beauty of the surrounding scenery and because there were plenty of landscape artists to share techniques and skills.

Gustave started to use color in his woodcuts, derived from his tempra paintings that he did out in the county. All of his subject mater was found within a four mile walking radius from his studio.

Each day he would work from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m..

He was a master in both carving the blocks and the vibrant color that he added to each image. He would carve the woodcut in his studio with a jackknife and carving tools and then bring the completed blocks down to the big Washington printing press at The Brown County Democrat where he would print large scale prints.

T.C. Steele and other artists encouraged Baumann to enter the big global art show in San Francisco the Panama /Pacific World Art Expo show.

Not only did he get in, but, He WON the Gold Medal in the show!

Even the highly respected Japanese printmakers were impressed, amazed that one man could do all the color impressions in one operation instead of a group of assistants.

The world of art galleries and clients beat a path to Gustave and his studio on Main Street.

He was asked by the Chicago Art Institute to put together a show of his work, becoming the first color print show in America.

Gustave eventually migrated from Nashville to another art colony in Santa Fe, N.M. where he lived out his life creating over 300 different woodcuts that appeared across the U.S.

He never lost his connection and appreciation for Brown County saying, “I will always have a special place in my heart for that place and those people who reside and create there”.

He passed away at age 90 in Santa Fe.

Coda:

PRINTS OF THE HEART.

Early on, Gustave created a little chop mark on all his prints. The stamped mark was a heart with an open hand enclosed within.

It was his symbol showing a giving heart.

A Heart and hand open to the world of art and beyond.

To view Gustave Baumann’s Indiana art work, visit the Brown County Art Gallery on the corner of Main Street and Artists Drive where a beautiful exhibit of his art work and his wood blocks are on display.