Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts & Archives
User information
Biographical sketch
Scope and Content note
Cataloguing information
Processed by
Charles Latham
1 April 1996
VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 2 items
COLLECTION DATES: 1965-1968
PROVENANCE: Gustave Baumann, Sanata Fe, NM, December 1968
RESTSRICTIONS: None
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society
ALTERNATE FORMATS: None
OTHER FINDING AIDS: None
RELATED HOLDINGS: PS 2704 .A5 1912 J. W. Riley, All the year round ; NE 1227 .B3 1929 Gustave Baumann, Chips an' shavings
ACCESSION NUMBER: 96.0317x
Gustave Baumann (1881-1971) was born in Magdebuirg, Germany, the son of Gustav and Pauline (Nagel) Baumann. He came to the United States in 1891. He received his artistic training at the Art Institute of Chicago and at Kunst Gewerbe Schule in Munich.
From 1909 to 1915 Baumann joined a group of Indiana artists who lived and worked in Brown County. He lived at "Ma" Ferguson's boarding house, and had a studio nearby. He began to specialize in woodblock prints, and had an exhibit in Indianapolis as early as 1910. In 1912 he did twelve illustrations for a book by James Whitcomb Riley, The year round. (There were later one-man shows at Lieber's in 1939 and at John Herron Art Institute in 1948.)
In 1918 Baumann, together with Shelbyville native Victor Higgins, migrated to the Southwest, first joining the artistic colony at Taos and finally settling in Santa Fe. He published two books: Chips an' shavings (about woodcuts, 1929), and Frijoles Canyon pictographs (1939). He became internationally recognized as a master of woodblock prints, and had his works hung in most major U. S. galleries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, National Gallery, and Art Institute of Chicago.
Sources: Who Was Who in America Vol. 6
Clippings in subject file at Indiana Division of Indiana State Library
This collection contains two items, a 1965 clipping about Gustave Baumann from the Santa Fe New Mexican, and a sixteen-page typescript by Baumann entitled "The County Called Brown."
In the typescript, Baumann, in a rambling, informal style, recalls conversations around Mother Ferguson's boarding house table in Nashville; a conversation with John McCutcheon in Chicago which led to Baumann's going to Brown County; his first approach to Brown County on foot from the railroad station at Helmsburg; T. C. Steele's total concentration on painting after having his palette prepared by his wife Selma; the nature of art colonies and how tourists can ruin them.
MAIN ENTRY: Baumann, Gustave, 1881-1971
SUBJECT ENTRIES: Baumann, Gustave, 1881-1971
Steele, T. C. (Theodore Clement), 1847-1926
McCutcheon, John T. (John Tinney), 1870-1949
Artist colonies--Indiana--Brown County
Artists--Indiana--Brown County
Wood-engravers--Indiana--Brown County
Brown County (Ind.)--History--Sources
END