Description

Baumann loved flowers and made many drawings (exemplified by House and Garden and Hollyhock Garden in this gallery) and several color woodcuts of gardens. He also painted vases of flowers in front of decorative octagonal or oval backgrounds, some of which he then executed as prints. Although, Flowers in Blue and Black Striped Vase was never translated into a color woodcut. Sunny Messengers, with a similar format, was made in 1915. Sunny Messengers was included in the first exhibition of contemporary American woodblock prints. Organized by Baumann, the show opened at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1916. Color woodcuts were growing in popularity; Baumann’s prints won a gold medal at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915.