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27
Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000) V.
der Weyden
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PC
28
Leonard Baskin Icarus
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30
Leonard Baskin Man
of Peace
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PC
32
Leonard Baskin Self
Portrait As a Priest
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| Leonard
Baskin was an American sculptor and printmaker known for his portrayals
of the human body. He taught at Smith College from 1953 to 1974, then Amherst
from 1984 to 1994. His works are in permanent collections around the world,
including the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institute, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, the Vatican Museum, the Whitney Museum, and the British
Museum.
Many of his woodcuts were used to demonstrate the uses of his Gehenna Press. While studying at Yale University, Baskin founded the Gehenna Press, which he named after a line from John Milton's Paradise Lost, "And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell." One of Baskin's best known prints, Man of Peace (WFU 30), is one of a series of large scale woodcuts he did for the Gehenna press. This print shows his wiry, linear drawing style. The man holds up a dead dove, which must be a peace offering, but barbed wire separates the man from whomever he is attempting to offer peace. Similar imagery is found in Picasso's prints for the Communist Party's World Conference in 1949 (Hults, 793). Two other prints in the Wake Forest collection show other aspects of Baskin's woodcut technique. Icarus In Self Portrait as a Priest the grain of the block is evident in the bust of the figure. Both Leonard Baskin and Lyonel Feininger (Art News, 28), two American artists a generation apart, exploited the medium of woodcuts by exposing the texture of the wood in their prints. The religious iconography exemplifies one of his largest themes of work. Baskin was influenced to do Biblical and religious scenes after being very moved by a Rembrandt's work of Christ's crucifixion. There seems to be no specific reasoning as to why he chose to use a priest's character in his portrait. The color woodcut, Icarus, is an oval surrounding the black outline of the mythological figure of a birdman. The green background is a staple in his work; he rarely uses more colors for his woodcuts other than black, green, and white. It is rare for Baskin to do woodcuts in a medium other than black and white because he likes the starkness of the composition. Mythological figures were a large theme used to revert back to the classical and traditional aspects of art and sculpture. Icarus was an important mythological figure. Icarus was a son of Apollo. He was given wings but instructed not to fly too close to the sun, Icarus disobeyed his orders and his wings were scorched and melted by the sun. Icarus plummeted and drowned in the ocean. Baskin's message of life and the dignity of man is defined through this image with the idea of self-gratification and temptation leading to destruction. He wants the viewers to realize how precious life is and not to be tempted by the evils in the world that his art portrays. The final work of art from Baskin out Wake Forest collection is an ink drawing entitled Our General II. It has not appeared in any sources I have consulted, but other figures of men with raptor heads have appeared. There are interesting symbols going on over the groin area, as well as over the heart, as if he is trying attempting to show the masculinity and strength of this warrior. This is a man with the head of a hawk to symbolize power of or against an enemy in war. Caroline Gray (May, 2001) Bibliography
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