**Originally Listed At $600**

Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000)."Velazquez" Artist Proof, n.d. Hand-signed with "Artists Proof" in pencil below image. A captivating artist's proof by Leonard Baskin featuring a portrait of Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez (1599-1660), the famous Spanish painter and leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, as well as the Spanish Golden Age. Baskin depicts Velazquez with the tenebrism of Velazquez's early works; the portrait dominated by the violent contrast of light and dark, as though the artist's face was illuminated by a spotlight. The intimidating figure is represented in Baskin's characteristic enormous scale with jagged and spiraling strokes that portray an intensely complex yet intriguingly mysterious image, all fit with a custom matte and frame and ready for display! Size of image: 13.5" W x 20" H (34.3 cm x 50.8 cm) Size of frame: 25" W x 33.75" H (63.5 cm x 85.7 cm)

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. 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 "Velazquez" has been collected by the Washington D.C. National Gallery of Art (2013.121.57), Farnsworth Art Museum (2001.34.15), Syracuse University Art Museum (2016.0081), and Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum (WU 1983.13.4).

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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A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

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#175936

Fit with matte and custom frame under glass. Hand-signed with "Artists Proof" in pencil below image. A few minor nicks and abrasions to frame, but proof is in overall excellent condition. Suspension wire on verso for easy display.