Image of the Day, March 23, 2012

“Though a living cannot be made at art, art makes life worth living. It makes living, living. It makes starving, living. It makes worry, it makes trouble, it makes a life that would be barren of everything — living. It brings life to life.” — John Sloan

John Sloan is well known as a member of “The Eight” and for his paintings of gritty urban scenes -- often narratives of city life in New York City during the early part of the 20^th century. Like many artists, he travelled west to Santa Fe in 1919. He bought a home and studio and returned every summer for four months until 1950, one year prior to his death.

John Sloan (1871-1951), Still Life, Hat on Chair, 1932, oil on cardboard, 21 x 18 in. Credit: Sothebys.comHis painting Still Life, Hat on Chair, 1932 will be sold at Sotheby’s American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture Auction, New York, 05 April, 2012 at 10:00.

The low estimate is $15,000., and the high estimate is $20,000.

Image of the Day: January 8, 2012

By Donna Poulton

"Art...is a kind of tyrant; it pushes you around. It came to me dressed in wanderlust." -- Gustave Baumann

Gustave Baumann (1881-1971), Aspen Thicket, woodcut.  Credit: Modernbungalow.comTrained at the Art Institute of Chicago and in Munich, Baumann came west in 1915 to attend the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco where he won a gold medal for his woodcut.  After traveling through the southwest, Baumann found Santa Fe and ideal place to live and settled there in 1917. He remained there for the next 50 years designing prints of the colorful and mystical landscape. 

Gustave Baumann (1881-1971), Santuarion—Chimayo, 1924, woodcut. Credit: antiquesandthearts.comHis woodblock prints are signed with the familiar image of a hand opened over the heart.

Gustave Baumann (1881-1971), The Processional, 1930, color woodcut with aluminum leaf, 13 x 13 in. Credit: annexgalleries