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Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000). "Icarus" hand-carved wooden block for creating woodcuts, ca. 1967 to 1968. An impressively large original block for Leonard Baskin's "Icarus" mounted in a custom frame. Baskin's hand-carved image presents the Greek mythological figure's misshapen body with distorted limbs and torso - as seen from above and perhaps falling - surrounded by his ruffled wings that would only result in an ill-fated flight, rendered in an oval format inscribed within the rectangular block. The block floats against a linen-covered matte and is mounted within an attractive custom frame. Size (block): 32" L x 22.125" W (81.3 cm x 56.2 cm) Size (frame): 42" L x 32.125" W (106.7 cm x 81.6 cm)

In 2019, the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California presented, "A Passionate Muse: The Art of Leonard Baskin" and the press release discussed Baskin's Icarus, "Against the grain of the mainstream art world, which at the time prized Abstract Expressionism as exemplified by artists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, Baskin made the human figure his main vehicle for expression. He did so throughout his career. Myth and literature that explore humanity?s foibles, failings, and triumphs provided subjects for later prints, such as 1968?s Icarus. Though it is tempting to relate its creation to the upheaval and disappointments of 1968, its meaning is more universal. His close friend and collaborator, the poet Ted Hughes, says, 'The scope he embraces, the depth he searches, the specific pain he locates, the light he casts on what he finds, and his treatment of it, present us with what we might well call uncommon forms.'"

Leonard Baskin was a 20th century "Renaissance Man" - 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. "Angel of Death" has been collected by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art among others (accession numbers 1971.300, 1971.25, and 1961-157-4 respectively). 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.

Leonard Baskin's "Icarus" is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (1967.66.1), Delaware Art Museum (2009-17), and the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College (PR.967.83).

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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#173166

The original block was "destroyed" or rendered unusable by carving a horizontal line across the middle. Original block design is covered with dry ink. Linen covered matte surrounding original block is in very nice condition. A few scuffs and abrasions to the frame. Fit with suspension wire. Tag attached to suspension wire lists a price of $2500.