Mending the Seine

1917, printed after 1931

Gustave Baumann

(American, born Germany, 1881–1971)

Culture

America

Medium

color woodcut

Support

Zanders wove paper

Measurements

Image: 24.6 x 28.5 cm (9 11/16 x 11 1/4 in.); Sheet: 34.1 x 43 cm (13 7/16 x 16 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Ann Baumann 2005.426

Catalogue raisonné

Chamberlain 55

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Description

Because of unknown salability, Baumann seldom printed an entire edition of a subject at once. He kept an impression, color proofs, progressive proofs, and the preparatory drawing as a guide for additional printing campaigns. The Roman numeral II on Mending the Seine indicates that this impression was produced the second time the blocks were printed, and it was numbered 35 out of an anticipated edition of 125. Baumann’s numbering systems, erratic and imprecise, changed over time, so it is sometimes difficult to accurately reconstruct the printing history of the blocks. The image depicts fishermen on Provincetown’s wharf repairing a seine, a large fishing net pulled through the water behind a boat.