Printing the Spirit: Gustave Baumann’s Santos

It is perhaps taking the thing too lightly in a country where constant battle between life and desert makes the invocation of supernatural forces very necessary, but New Mexico saints have very human traits, and the old santeros have made them real. --Gustave Baumann

In 1927, Gustave Baumann, already celebrated for his colorful and innovative woodcuts, turned his attention to documenting the works of traditional New Mexican santeros (saint makers). One of the first early-twentieth-century artists to recognize that the carving of bultos and the painting of retablos represented a distinct art form that merited respect and preservation on its own terms, Baumann sought to express their essence through the medium he had mastered. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he partnered with a young New Mexico poet, Peggy Pond Church, and seasoned author Mary Austin, in the hope of publishing a book on the subject. But that book--The Little Saints of New Mexico--was never published. In Printing the Spirit, Thomas Leech and Carmella Padilla draw from Baumann’s original materials, now part of the Gustave Baumann Archive at the New Mexico History Museum, to honor Baumann’s work. For the first time, Printing the Spirit brings together a selection of Baumann’s faithful pencil renderings of thirty-four bultos and retablos and the proofs he made for the original book. Also included are color reproductions of some of the actual santos, now in museum collections, upon which he modeled his works; images of his original carved woodblocks; essays by Baumann and Austin; poetry by Church; and historic photographs.Baumann scholar and printer Leech provides an overview of Baumann’s lifelong journey to publish the book. Author and cultural historian Padilla tells an intriguing tale of Baumann, Austin, and Church’s interwoven lives while contextualizing the complexities of art making in a multicultural community--in their time and ours.
The story of Baumann’s foray into saint making is a little-known aspect of the artist’s luminous career. Associated more with color woodcuts of billowing summer clouds and autumn arroyos blooming with chamisa, the artist has been largely unacknowledged in discussions of Spanish Colonial art and the study and appreciation of the santos of New Mexico. Printing the Spirit is a testament to Baumann’s unwavering commitment to opening the world’s eyes to the quiet grace and enduring importance of the santo tradition.

Thomas Leech is an independent curator, printer, and book artist. He is former director of the Press at the Palace of the Governors (New Mexico History Museum) in Santa Fe. Carmella Padilla is a journalist, editor, and author of numerous books on New Mexico art and culture and beyond.