Rock Mountain Appearance

Sculpture

DePaul Art Museum

Name/Title

Rock Mountain Appearance

Entry/Object ID

2018.06

Description

A house structure made of wood boards. Each panel of the house depicts a natural mountain scene. One side depicts Jesus next to a drinking deer. The house is mounted on a small wooden paddle or cutting board.

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil on canvas board wood

Acquisition

Accession

2018.06

Source or Donor

Don Baum Estate, Charles Baum, Carl Hammer Gallery

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

Gift of the Estate of Charles and Camille Baum

Made/Created

Artist

Baum, Don

Date made

1986

Ethnography

Notes

American

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Location

Bottom of wood paddle

Transcription

'Betsy Rosenfield Gallery, Inc. [Artwork Info]

Notes

Inscription Type: adhesive label

Location

Bottom of wood paddle

Transcription

[Title, Date]

Notes

Inscription Type: adhesive label

Location

Bottom of wood paddle

Transcription

'Carl Hammer Gallery +[artwork info]

Notes

Inscription Type: adhesive label

Lexicon

Getty AAT

Concept

mountainous, environmental concepts, miniature (size attribute), size/dimensions, form attributes, Nature, philosophical concepts, deities, people in religion, people (agents)

Hierarchy Name

Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), Attributes and Properties (hierarchy name), People (hierarchy name)

Facet

Associated Concepts Facet, Physical Attributes Facet, Agents Facet

LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials

Mountains, Nature

Dimensions

Dimension Description

overall

Width

7-1/4 in

Depth

16 in

Length

13-1/4 in

Exhibition

DPAM Collects: Happy Little Trees and Other Recent Acquisitions

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Cultural/Historical Context

Label

Don Baum (American, b. 1922 – 2008) Rock Mountain Appearance, 1986 Oil on canvas board and wood Collection of DePaul Art Museum, gift of the Estate of Charles and Camille Baum 2018.6 A long-time curator at the Hyde Park Art Center, Don Baum gave rise to the Chicago Imagists by offering the group of representational artists their first exhibition at one of the city’s most respected institutions at the time. Interested in unorthodox uses for materials, form, and techniques, he removed distinctions between trained or un-trained, outsider or established artist. He was also an artist himself. Baum’s Domus series of miniature houses use found materials, here a cutting board and paint-by-number panels, purchased at garage sales. Sold as paint guides since the 1950s, the paint-by-numbers kits claimed to make anyone an artist “from the first try.” Baum appreciated the beloved-by-consumers, berated-by-critics dichotomy and created new contexts and questions around the hierarchy of fine art painting.