Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000). "Thomas Eakins: 1890" etching, n.d. Edition 2 of 50. Artist's signature, title, and edition number handwritten in pencil beneath image. A moving etching by Leonard Baskin depicting the American artist Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) emerging enigmatically from a darkened background formed by dense cross-hatching, reminiscent of Rembrandt's etching technique. One of the most important American artists, Thomas Eakins was a realist painter, photographer, and sculptor. Baskin portrayed Eakins 6 times and wrote of the artist: "I venerate Thomas Eakins, America's greatest painter...It is not the paintings, despite the Rembrandtesque grandeur of their realism, that lifts Eakins apart; it is rather the perceptible actuality of his indomitable spirit, as he moved through his inhospitable world...His forbearance was stoutly dignified at the braying of prurient prudes and he held fast against the onslaughts of privileged philistinism." Size of platemark (image): 5.8" W x 7.8" H (14.7 cm x 19.8 cm) Size of frame: 14.6" W x 19" H (37.1 cm x 48.3 cm)

Eakins was also an educator who incited much controversy due to his interest in the human body. He oftentimes depicted scantily clad figures engaged in physical poses - usually male athletes such as wrestlers, rowers, and swimmers - and also created photographic studies to accurately capture the physicality of athletes. What's more, he encouraged his students at the Pennsylvania Academy to work from live nude models, a practice that stirred up quite an uproar during his day.

Leonard Baskin was a 20th century "Renaissance Man" if you will; he was a highly respected sculptor, printmaker, writer, and watercolorist. His themes 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. 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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#174204

Artist's signature, title, and edition number handwritten in pencil beneath image. Fit with matte and frame with suspension wire on verso. Has not been examined outside of frame, but etching is in overall excellent condition.