Artwork Page for Malapai

Details / Information for Malapai

Malapai

1927, printed 1936

Gustave Baumann

(American, born Germany, 1881–1971)
Culture
America
Medium
color woodcut
Support
Zanders laid paper
Measurements
Image: 24 x 28.6 cm (9 7/16 x 11 1/4 in.); Sheet: 34.1 x 43.1 cm (13 7/16 x 16 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Ann Baumann 2005.425
Catalogue raisonné
Chamberlain 122
Copyright
© Ann Baumann Trust
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

The Malpais (badlands) are now part of El Malpais National Monument. The barren scenery is a result of ancient lava flows within a basin surrounded by sandstone bluffs that have been eroded by wind and water into startling, eerie formations. Baumann commented on this strange and intriguing vista: “There is a feeling of rightness in the confusion of shapes thrown about on the landscape with its multicolored ash, mud, and lava flows, and yet it is disconcerting when I find that what gives it art value is no more than a thin film of iridescence caused by the atmosphere.”
A color woodcut depicts a desert landscape within a dotted border. The lower third features a tan plain scattered with green and purple bushes and a small wagon. Rising in the middle ground are vibrant orange and purple rock formations with a tall peak. In the upper half, textured green and yellow clouds swirl across a pale sky. The lower margin contains the title, a red symbol, and a signature.

Malapai

1927, printed 1936

Gustave Baumann

(American, born Germany, 1881–1971)
America

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