New Mexico Museum of Art to show Marionettes & Art of Gustave Baumann

Saturday, 25 October 2008 18:28

Santa Fe, NM - Pulling String: The Marionettes and Art of Gustave Baumann, an exhibition of more than sixty marionettes carved by the artist will be on view in this first-ever large scale exhibition featuring recreated stages with posed marionettes, hand-made props, and Gustave Baumann-painted backdrops. The exhibition will be on view at the New Mexico Museum of Art from January 30, 2009 through May 10, 2009.

Pulling String: The Marionettes and Art of Gustave Baumann showcases the marionettes donated to the New Mexico Museum of Art (then the Museum of Fine Art) in 1973 by Gustave Baumann’s wife, Jane. The marionettes, props, and other stage material on view have been used in Christmas productions since 1935. Originally intended to amuse their daughter Anne in their home, Baumann’s marionettes quickly became well-known in the Santa Fe community and performances were soon offered annually in St. Francis auditorium in the Museum. Although the marionettes are much loved in Santa Fe, there has never been a complete display of them in theatrical settings.

To recreate the experience of viewing the marionettes on stage, an audiotape will accompany the exhibition and give viewers the opportunity to hear actors perform sections of the scripts written by Gustave Baumann and his associates.

In addition to the staged marionettes, Pulling String: The Marionettes and Art of Gustave Baumann will present prints and paintings by Baumann that are part of the Museum’s collection of over 2,000 works by the artist. Baumann’s works produced in New Mexico that relate to the theatrical performances of the marionettes will be emphasized.

Three books published previous to the opening of Pulling String: The Marionettes and Art of Gustave Baumann will be available for purchase in the Museum bookstore to help the public in their understanding of Gustave Baumann and his legacy; Gustave Baumann’s Southwest, by Joseph Traugott (1993, Museum of New Mexico Press), Gustave Baumann: Nearer to Art, by Acton, Krause and Yurtsevan (1993, Museum of New Mexico Press), andThe Hand-Carved Marionettes of Gustave Baumann: Share Their World, by Ellen Zieselman, (1999, Museum of Fine Arts).

The New Mexico Museum of Art was founded in 1917 as the Art Gallery of the Museum of New Mexico. Housed in a spectacular Pueblo Revival building designed by I. H. and William M. Rapp, it was based on their New Mexico building at the Panama-California Exposition (1915). The museum's architecture inaugurated what has come to be known as "Santa Fe Style." For nearly 100 years, the Museum has celebrated the diversity of the visual arts and the legacy of New Mexico as a cultural crossroads by collecting and exhibiting work by leading artists from New Mexico and elsewhere

A public reception for this exhibition will be hosted by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico on February 20, 2009, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Location: Santa Fe’s Plaza at 107 West Palace Avenue.

Information:  505-476-5072 or visit : www.nmartmuseum.org