Karl Baumann

Photograph of "Village Scene" signed and dated 'K. Baumann 62' (lower right)

Karl Herman Baumann (December 26, 1911 – January 30, 1984) was an American artist of German origin. Baumann was a leading California Abstract Expressionist, a noted professor of painting at the California College of the Arts and teacher at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.^[1]

Biography

Karl Baumann was an American painter, commercial artist, printmaker and noted teacher.^[2] He was born in 1911 in Leipzig, and started to draw when he was five years old with no formal training. He exhibited his works at the Golden Gate International Exposition, the Palace of the Legion of Honor, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.^[3] In 1936 the WPA employed Karl Baumann as an easel painter, and he began to gain a reputation as a leading Californian Abstract Expressionist. He was hired in 1947 by the California College of the Arts and Crafts as a professor of painting, and also taught for a time at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.^[4] Baumann's work includes mostly landscapes, marines, and still lifes. Early works are in the style of German Expressionists, later works are more abstract. Karl Baumann died in 1984 and his estate is now handled by Maxwell Galleries of San Francisco.^[5]

References

• Lauri Hoffman, (2011) Distinguished Artist Series:The Life and Art of Karl Baumann Resource Library Magazine, AZ.
• National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC) Karl Herman – American, 1911 – 1984, Accessed June 23, 2015.
• Maxwell Galleries (1991) "Karl Baumann", San Francisco (CA): Wittenborn Art Books, pp. 210.

Footnotes