Karl Baumann was known primarily as a landscapist, but his subjects include cityscapes, seascapes and still-lifes. His fascination with nature as a theme is evident in many of his paintings where he seems to capture that element which eludes the average spectator. His landscapes, some abstract in nature, are often dominated by dramatic fields of color balancing against an unseen tension. Baumann's techniques display his intense interest in the behavior of paint as a texture and his skilled creation of color.

Born in Leipzig, Germany, Baumann emigrated in 1929 at age 18 to the United States and settled in San Francisco, California. There he worked as a commercial artist at Schmidt Lithograph with his father for about ten years.
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