Lot 65
**Originally Listed At $250**
Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000). "Lessons in Far Future" ed. 40/125 and "De Hooghe's Sybil" ed. 54/125 etching in black and red ink on wove paper, 1978. Both signed on lower right. A haunting pair of etchings by legendary artist Leonard Baskin, both rendered with his characteristic expressive energy and stark realism. First, "Lessons in Far Future" depicts a bearded male nude facing right against a cross-hatched background that dominates the composition, highlighting the figure's solitude. He is fit with an elongated false nose, reminiscent of Pinnochio and granting an air of mockery, as well as a false erect phallus. The right side of the piece is inscribed with a poem attributed to the artist's son Tobias. Equally dramatic, "De Hooghe's Sybil" shows the head and neck of a person with a distinct visage of wide-set eyes, a hook nose, and thin lips. Size of etching (both the same): 5.8" W x 5.8" H (14.7 cm x 14.7 cm); with matte (both the same): 16" W x 20" H (40.6 cm x 50.8 cm)
A disheveled coiffure and fluffy headdress crown the stern countenance, while the title is inscribed in red at the top.
Leonard Baskin was a 20th century "Renaissance Man" if you will; he was a highly respected sculptor, printmaker, writer, and watercolorist. His prints included mythological, classical, and biblical scenes as well as portraits and floral studies. Baskin studied at Yale University from 1941 to 1943 and received his B.A. at the New School for Social Research in 1949. He also founded Gehenna Press which specialized in fine book production and taught printmaking and sculpture at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts as well as Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts from 1953 until 1974. Baskin's artworks are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, the Vatican Museum, the Smithsonian Institute, the Tate Gallery in London, and other elite institutions. "Lessons in Far Future" has been collected by the American National Gallery of Art (2013.121.130) and "De Hooghe's Sybil" by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2011.349). His noted public sculptural commissions include pieces for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial as well as the Holocaust Memorial in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Baskin also received many prestigious honors, such as a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Gold Medal of the National Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Jewish Cultural Achievement Award. He was also honored with numerous retrospective exhibitions at institutions including the Smithsonian Museum, the Albertina Museum, and the Library of Congress.
Provenance: ex-private Bishop Family Trust collection, the Trust of the late Bill Bishop, a noted antiquarian with shops in Scottsdale, Arizona and Allenspark, Colorado, USA, acquired before 2010
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#173797
- Condition: Artist's signature on lower right of both. Both are set in custom mattes. Both are in excellent condition.
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| $0 | $299 | $25 |
| $300 | $999 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $1,999 | $100 |
| $2,000 | $4,999 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $9,999 | $500 |
| $10,000 | $19,999 | $1,000 |
| $20,000 | $49,999 | $2,500 |
| $50,000 | $99,999 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $199,999 | $10,000 |
| $200,000 + | $20,000 |