GUSTAVE BAUMANN
(American, 1881-1971)
Cochiti Ensemble
1942-47, oil on board
signed and dated Gustave Baumann - 47 lower right;
titled and signed verso
32 x 36 in., housed in a hand-carved silver gilt pentagonal frame: 33 1/4 x 38 in.
Provenance: The artist; Private Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Owings-Dewey Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico; The Collection of a Boston Family.

Exhibitions: 29th Annual Exhibition of Painters and Sculptors of the Southwest, Museum of New Mexico, September 1-30, 1942.

Other Notes: Mitchell, Brown Duncan Gallery, Inc. (Santa Fe, New Mexico) label verso; Owings Dewey Fine Art (Santa Fe, New Mexico) label verso.

Widely known for his colorful woodblock prints depicting Southwestern landscapes and scenes, Gustave Baumann hand cut and printed nearly four hundred prints over the course his career. As such, his oil painting, Cochiti Ensemble (1942-47), is rare for the artist in both its medium and its pentagonal form. However, in his later years, Baumann in fact favored painting in oils due to his arthritis. His paintings, like his woodcuts, capture the artist's enthusiasm for New Mexican culture with vibrant colors and dynamic compositions of native Pueblo and Hopi dolls.