Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000) Bronze Sculpture, Title - Homage to the Un-American Activities Committee 1959. Very few (possibly less than 12) of the bronze relief plaque sculpture are known to have been made. The figure with a looming huge beast of a sunflower is a powerful 1959 comment by the artist on McCarthyism and the persecution in the 1940s through 1950s of left-wing individuals. Unsigned. Sculpture measures 11.5 inches high, 12 inches wide. Rich dark patina. Weight 10 lbs. In good condition. The Baskin sculpture is from the East Hampton, NY estate of artist Nancy Ann Reals Perl Benderoth (1933-2018), a personal friend along with her husband Arnold Perl of Leonard Baskin. Arnold Perl, a playwright, screenwriter, and producer was a former member of the Communist Party, Mr. Perl had been blacklisted and sold television scripts through a front. Though not a member of the Communist Party, Nancy shared many of her husband's political beliefs.

American sculptor, painter, and printmaker, Leonard Baskin was raised the son of a Rabbi in Brooklyn, New York. His interest in art was evident from an early age and he had his first solo exhibit of sculpture at the Glickman Studio Gallery when he was just seventeen. After receiving his B.A. from Yale, Baskin studied abroad in Paris and Florence. Shortly after returning from Europe, he took his first teaching position at Smith College in Massachusetts where he was an instructor of sculpture and printmaking. Despite the trends in Modern art, Baskin’s work remained figural throughout his career and he dealt primarily with mythological and religious themes. He was considered one of the finest American sculptors and printmakers of his time and his work appears in the collections of major museums around the world. In addition to his career as an artist, Baskin founded his own publishing company called Gehenna Press in 1942 and illustrated and authored many books himself. Biography from The Columbus Museum of Art, Georgia: Leonard Baskin was born in 1922 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. From 1937 to 1943, he studied sculpture with Maurice Glickman at the Educational Alliance in New York City. At the age of 17, he had his first exhibition of sculpture at Glickman's Studio Gallery. Baskin studied at Yale University from 1941 to 19­43, and he earned a B.A. at the New School for Social Research in 1949. In the early 1950s, Baskin studied in Florence and Paris. He taught printmaking and sculpture at Smith College in Northhampton, Massachusetts for 21 years beginning in 1953. During this time, he founded Gehenna Press, which published more than 100 fine-art illustrated editions.

Baskin created many important public commissions, including sculpture for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and the Woodrow Wilson Memorial, in both Washington D.C., and the Holocaust Memorial in Ann Arbor, MI. The artist received numerous honors, among them the Jewish Cultural Achievement Award, the Gold Medal of the National Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His works are in major public institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the British Museum.

Although he worked as a printmaker, draftsman, and book designer, Baskin's principal focus throughout his life was sculpture. He was a traditionalist who carved in wood and stone, and modeled in clay. The inspiration for his work came from a variety of sources, including the Bible, ancient Greek literature and modern Western poetry. As the son of a Rabbi, Baskin was educated at a yeshiva; Jewish imagery was to be an important element of his work. The iconic, monolithic imagery of Ancient Egyptian and Sumerian art influenced the formal aspects of his work. He was an outspoken critic of naturalism, which he argued is concerned only with physical truths, and abstraction, which he saw as forsaking the human figure.

He considered the human figure to be the main subject matter of his work, and he used the human figure and various animals as visual allegories for human spirituality. He was very interested in both the imperfections of humanity and the fact that human beings bear the image of God. Baskin's use of avian or animal images, such as the raven and dogs, allowed him to explore this duality.

Biographical information taken from the following: Irma B. Jaffe, The Sculpture of Leonard Baskin, New York: Viking, 1980; Jaffe, Baskin, Leonard, in the Grove Encyclopedia of Art; and John Payson, Leonard Baskin: Angels to the Jews, New York: Midtown Payson Galleries, 1991. Thanks to Daphne A. Deeds, Leonard Baskin, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, NE, 2000. The Sheldon exhibited Leonard Baskin: The Ultimate Need, from May 9 - July 23, 2000. It was an exhibition of fourteen artworks that surveyed the unique aesthetics of one of the twentieth century's great draftsmen and expressionists, and was drawn primarily from the Gallery's permanent collection. Kristen Miller Zohn, Columbus Museum.

Obiturary from the EastHamptonStar - Feb. 21, 2018: Nancy Ann Reals Perl Benderoth, an artist, designer, and producer of a documentary film that was nominated for an Academy Award, died at her Jericho Road, East Hampton, house on Feb. 6. Her family, who were with her at the end, said the cause of death was cardiac arrest brought on by pneumonia. She was 84 and had been in declining health for several years. She was born to Barney Reals and the former Annabel Whitney in Brooklyn on April 26, 1933, and grew up in the gated community of Seagate, adjacent to Coney Island. A lifelong painter, she attended Cooper Union and the Art Students League, both in Manhattan. Locally, she studied at the Art Barge on Napeague with Victor D’Amico of the Museum of Modern Art. Ms. Perl also worked as an assistant to other artists and as a stylist for such well-known photographers as Bert Stern and Irving Penn. At one time, she had a career in advertising, working for Mary Wells Lawrence at Wells, Rich, and Greene. Her husband had been collaborating with James Baldwin on a dramatic production of the life of Malcolm X, which eventually became a film. It was was incomplete when Mr. Perl died, and Ms. Perl, a producer on the project, stepped in. Working with the editor of the film, Mick Benderoth, the film was completed, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1972. Ms. Perl and Mr. Benderoth began collaborating both professionally and personally. They formed a film production company, called Benderoth-Perl, and were married on Christmas Eve in 1990. She and Arnold Perl, a playwright, screenwriter, and producer were married in 1956. A former member of the Communist Party, Mr. Perl had been blacklisted and sold television scripts through a front. Though not a member of the Communist Party, she shared many of her husband's political beliefs. They met in the world of theater through Bernard Gersten, co-founder along with Joseph Papp of the Public Theater in Manhattan. She was an informal consultant on costumes and props for the 1953 stage production of Sholem Aleichem, which her husband wrote. Mr. Perl also wrote Tevya and His Daughters, a basis for Fiddler on the Roof. In the early 1960s, the Perl family began summering in East Hampton. They were attracted by the many artists and writers and found many kindred spirits here. The family rented a house on Jericho Road for the summer of 1964, with the understanding that the rent could be applied toward a purchase price. They bought it for $36,000. A few years later, the couple also purchased a townhouse on East 18th Street in Manhattan. East Hampton became the center of their family's life, however, said Sarah Perl, one of the couple's daughters' and enjoyed living year round here. They were not religious and celebrated both Jewish culture and heritage as well as Christmas. Ms. Perl said yesterday that when the family spent a Christmas away from Jericho Road, in a house without a fireplace, she asked her mother how Santa would get in. Don't worry, was the answer, I will let him in. Ms. Perl Benderoth loved spending long days at Georgica Beach or Louse Point, going in the morning and staying until sunset. Her daughter said her mother would frequently take a black skillet and a stick of butter to Louse Point, where they would seine for and fry minnows. She would often stuff plums into the bottom of an ice-packed carrier. You would stick your arm in up to your elbow, and pull them out, Ms. Perl recalled. Her mother opened the Boutique at Enrico Caruso at 110 East 55th Street in Manhattan in 1965, where, her daughter said she sold the best of everything, including Viennese pastries made by her 70-year-old mother in a tiny kitchen in the Stuyvesant Town apartment complex.

Condition listed in description