Artwork Page for Idle Fleet

Details / Information for Idle Fleet

Idle Fleet

1917, printed 1931

Gustave Baumann

(American, born Germany, 1881–1971)
Culture
America
Medium
color woodcut
Support
Zanders laid paper
Measurements
Image: 24.2 x 27.9 cm (9 1/2 x 11 in.); Sheet: 34.4 x 43.5 cm (13 9/16 x 17 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Ann Baumann 2005.423
Catalogue raisonné
Chamberlain 54
State
cut down blocks to9-1/2 x 11 were orig.11 x 13-15/16 in 1918
Copyright
© Ann Baumann Trust
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Baumann went to Provincetown, Massachusetts, then a small quaint fishing village, where his friend B. J. O. Nordfeldt had settled with several artists making color woodcuts. Normally one block was cut for each color, but Nordfeldt devised a method using only one block. A channel was cut around each color area, allowing all the colors to be put on the block simultaneously. When the block was printed, each color area was surrounded by a white line, the unprinted white paper. Mabel Hewit’s Houses, pictured below, demonstrates the technique. Baumann continued to use multiple blocks but emulated the effect of white-line woodcuts in Idle Fleet by outlining most pictorial elements in negative space. The use of white to separate shapes and pastel colors captured the effect of brilliant sunlight reflecting off the water and illuminating Provincetown’s faded clapboard houses.

Idle Fleet

1917, printed 1931

Gustave Baumann

(American, born Germany, 1881–1971)
America

See Also

Visually Similar by AI

    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, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.