April
Gustave Baumann
1930
- Medium
- Color woodcut, with aluminum leaf, on cream laid paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 33 × 32.8 cm (13 × 12 15/16 in.); Sheet: 43.2 × 35.3 cm (17 1/16 × 13 15/16 in.)
- Genre
- woodcut
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
ground (material)printprints and drawingwoodcutpaper (fiber product)
About
One of Gustave Baumann’s most beloved prints, April displays the artist’s playfulness, as he altered the printed surface with aluminum leaf. To create this seamless effect, Baumann printed the image of the tree first, then added a layer of aluminum leaf, using adhesive in the blank passages. He then brushed away the leaf that had not adhered, revealing the printed image beneath. The softness evoked by the tree in bloom is contrasted with the cool, metallic background.
