Gustave Baumann: Grandma Battin's Garden 300-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

Gustave Baumann (American, b. Germany, 1881–1971) Grandma Battin’s Garden, 1927 Gustave Baumann first made a watercolor painting of Sarah Battin’s garden in Nashville, Indiana, when he was a member of the Brown County, Indiana, artists colony. Years later, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he created this woodcut print from the image. It’s a fine example of Baumann’s artworks that reflect the beauty and simplicity of rural life, and it’s a perfect image for a 300-piece jigsaw puzzle.

Gustave Baumann

Gustave Baumann (American, 1881–1971) drew on the invigorating influences of European and American artists, along with watercolor painters and Native American potters, to produce complex color woodblock prints that reveal a country both delicate and rugged, personal and mythic. Brought from Germany to Chicago as a boy, Baumann supported his family financially while still a teenager, when he worked at an engraver’s and discovered an affinity for printmaking. He took night classes in art and saved enough money to study block printing in Munich. Back in the United States, his travels brought him to New Mexico, where he perfected his signature style and for more than 50 years captured the crystalline light and rich colors of the Southwest with affection and subtlety.