In the 1910s, Gustave Baumann was living in Brown County, Indiana. He had previously lived in Chicago, where he worked as an engraver by day and spent his evenings taking classes at the Art Institute. Brown County was a much slower, quiet place. Much of Baumann’s time was spent in the countryside, walking with his dog Punch, or in the studio. In Punch Hunting Chipmunks, we see Punch with his nose pressed to the ground as he follows the scent of a chipmunk, which watches from the rocky edge of a body of water. Most of the composition is dominated by a willow tree covered in gentle green leaves. The woodcut is based on a plein air gouache painting.
Punch Hunting Chipmunks tells a seemingly simple story that expands the more you look at and consider it. At first glance, it is a story about a man and his dog. The vibrant colors and intricate details create a calm place for them to wander. The cheeky rodent suggests an additional narrative about searching, looking, and labor. Are we seeing Baumann’s break and Punch’s work? Or is Punch’s hunt through the landscape about a way of playing in and looking at the environment that is similar to what Baumann does when he depicts the same terrain in his painting and print?
The second story this print tells is about an artist carving out their place in the art world. Baumann came to the Midwest from Germany in 1891, but he returned in 1904 to attend the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich: a vocational art school. While there, he learned woodblock printing in a specific European style that focused on beautiful color and intricate detail. He continued to develop this style at the Brown County Art Colony. Much of the work being made at the time in Brown County was focused on the landscape of the area, but Baumann’s style as a printmaker was distinct. Japanese-style woodblock printmaking was more popular at the time, and therefore even Baumann’s choice to press the woodblocks with a small press instead of hand rubbing them as is done with Japanese prints was out of fashion. At Brown County, Baumann developed an even more distinct voice. He developed his iconic dotted border as well as the stamp he used in his signature: a hand with a spiral in its palm. He did ambitiously large prints and would win the gold medal for color woodblock printing at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
Punch Hunting Chipmunks tells a third story too, one many artists have lived, myself included. In quiet moments, especially in nature, there’s an urge to hold on to that moment, to look as deep as you can and try not to forget why it gave you peace, or happiness, or contentment. Gustave Baumann was a very process-oriented artist. This woodcut is a five-color, multilayered print; lots of care was required to produce the details and textures of the moment: the leaves of the willow tree, the rocks along the coast, the soft yellow grass, the rolling hills, and, situated within it all, his dog Punch. What is the difference between this woodcut and the kind of nature-related photographs you might have posted on social media after your last hike with your beloved pet? For one thing, this was no impromptu snapshot. The multiblock woodcut was technically demanding to create, requiring careful planning and meticulous execution over the course of many days to align the five blocks into complex overlapping areas of color. Baumann also spent a lot of time mixing his own pigments. The time contained in his labor is time spent in that memory; it stretches the moment into the future and engages the same kind of deep looking he might have felt on that hike, longing for a little more time to himself and his dog.
As an artist, when you spend that much time immersed in a process, looking at the place you inhabit and who you share it with, the physical act of making melts away into a way of being, contemplating, and valuing the time you have, and labor becomes as meditative as a walk through the countryside.
Author: Quinn Koeneman, MFA graduate 2025, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; IFPDA (International Fine Print Dealers Association) Curatorial Intern, 2023–24.
