Skip to Main Content

Hidden Meaning

1962
(American, born Germany, 1881–1971)
America, 20th century
color woodcut
Support: Japanese paper
Image: 30.6 x 32.7 cm (12 1/16 x 12 7/8 in.); Sheet: 36.3 x 43 cm (14 5/16 x 16 15/16 in.)
Gift of Ann Baumann 2005.421
© Ann Baumann Trust
Catalogue raisonné: Chamberlain 190
State: 2 of 5 trials
Edition: about 69
Location: not on view
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Download, Print and Share

Description

Hidden Meaning, Baumann’s last editioned color woodcut, is one of only a few of his experiments with abstraction. The museum’s impression is one of five trial proofs printed before the artist embellished the purple block with designs that resemble pictographs, pictorial symbols carved into rocks, by the ancient inhabitants of what is now New Mexico’s Bandelier National Monument. When the edition was printed, these designs appear as white drawings, actually unprinted areas of paper, on the purple background. Having developed arthritis, which made it difficult to cut woodblocks, Baumann made few new prints after 1961. Instead, he reprinted new versions of old prints, experimenting with color. Baumann died in 1971 at age 90 after a very successful 60-year career.
Hidden Meaning

Hidden Meaning

1962

Gustave Baumann

(American, born Germany, 1881–1971)
America, 20th century

See Also

Visually Similar Artworks

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.