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Leonard Baskin(1922-2000)Man with Hat
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Jelena James
Senior Specialist, Head of Sale

Claire Dettelbach
Cataloguer

Jewel Bernier
Cataloguer
Leonard Baskin (1922-2000)
signed and dated 'L. Baskin / 15/15' (along the bottom edge)
bronze with black and brown patina
height 8 1/4 in. (20.9 cm)
Conceived in 1963.
Footnotes
N.B.
Leonard Baskin was born in New Jersey, the son of a Rabbi, and was a prolific scholar, draughtsman, sculptor, and teacher. While a student at Yale in 1942, he founded the fine arts press Gehenna Press, which would go on to become one of the world's most important art presses, featuring authors like Sylvia Plath, James Baldwin, and Anthony Hecht. Baskin's art often addressed broad, uniting themes centering on Judaism, spirituality, mortality, and social justice. He was a firm advocate of figural art and resisted the abstract expressionist currents of the time, creating depictions of the body that are at often somber, often deformed, and sometimes grand. He said of his loyalty to the figure: "Our human frame, our gutted mansion, our enveloping sack of beef and ash is yet a glory. Glorious in defining our universal sodality and in defining our utter uniqueness. The human figure is the image of all men and of one man. It contains all and can express all." (Quoted in Roberta Smith, 'Leonard Baskin Dies at 77: Sculptor of Stark Memorials', New York Times, June 6, 2000).
























