Leonard Baskin

UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography, (2003)

Leonard Baskin

Leonard Baskin (1922-2000) was one of the twentieth century's greatest sculptors and printmakers. Railing against the trends of the time, he maintained a focus on figurative art. Strongly influenced by classical forms, his work reflected his interests in Greek mythology and Jewish tradition and culture. Baskin is also known for having founded one of the longest-running arts presses in the United States.

Leonard Baskin was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on August 15, 1922, to Samuel and May (Guss) Baskin. His father was an orthodox rabbi, and his brother became a rabbi, too. The family moved to New York when he was seven, and he attended what he later called a "dark, medieval" yeshiva in Brooklyn. When he was a young man he worked in a synagogue for extra money. This strong Jewish upbringing would eventually form the foundation, or context, for his artistic vision. By age 15, he was interested in becoming a sculptor. He studied sculpting as an apprentice to Maurice Glickman from 1937 to 1939 at the Educational Alliance in New York City.

In 1939, at the age of 17, he held his first one-man exhibition of sculptures at the Glickman Studio Gallery. The Prix de Rome awarded his work an honorable mention. This was the first of 40 exhibitions in which his woodcuts, prints, sculptures, and paintings would appear.

Inspired to Print His Own Books

From 1939 to 1941, Baskin attended the New York University School of Architecture and Applied Arts. In 1941, he won a scholarship to Yale, where he studied for two years. At the Yale library he discovered William Blake's illustrated books. He was so impressed by Blake that he decided to learn to print and make his own books.

Baskin founded his own press, called Gehenna Press, in 1942 (the name came from a line in Paradise Lost, "and black Gehenna call'd, the type of hell"), while attending Yale. One of the nation's first fine art presses, the Gehenna Press printed over 100 books and became one of this country's longest running private presses. It ran until his death in 2000.

The first book from the Press was Baskin's book of poems, On a Pyre of Withered Roses. Baskin illustrated books by other authors as well, such as Crow by Ted Hughes, Seven Deadly Sins by Anthony Hecht, and Seven Sybils by Ruth Fainlight. He also published great works of literature such as Blake's Auguries of Innocence and Euripides's Hippolytos, and children's books, like Hosie's Alphabet, which won the 1974 Caldecot Medal. Another children's book, written and illustrated by Baskin, was 1984's Imps, Demons, Hobgoblins, Witches, Fairies and Elves. The characters that populate the book were taken from timeless stories by the Brothers Grimm, Shakespeare, and folk traditions.

Baskin served in U.S. Navy in the Pacific at the end of World War II, followed by a brief stint in the Merchant Marines. He returned to the States and attended The New School for Social Research in New York, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1949. In 1946, he married Esther Tane, with whom he had one son. Esther died in 1967.

In 1949, he made his first limited edition prints. The following year, he spent in Paris at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. In 1951, he attended the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. He won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1953. That year, he also had a show at the Grace Borgenicht Gallery in New York City that spread interest in his art. Customers, dealers, and artists started to visit him in his studio in Leeds, Massachusetts. In the 1950s, he was the first artist to create oversized woodblock prints. Indeed, he has been referred to as a pioneer in large-scale printmaking. His work was always figurative, whether mythical or commonplace in subject matter.

Themes and Influences

Birds appear frequently in his work, often as harbingers or representatives from another plane. For example, "Artist's Nightmare," (1995) shows a bird wearing a red robe standing on a naked man who is lying flat. Baskin was also interested in Greek mythology, philosophy and history and used the sibyl, a prophetic female from Greek mythology, as a central figure in many sculptures and paintings.

He was also influenced by his Jewish upbringing. His religious art such as illustrations of the Haggadah and of the Biblical Five Scrolls was informed by his knowledge of Jewish tradition. This influence carried over into later works, such as the "Angels to the Jews" series, as well.

Baskin served as Professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1953 to 1974, where he taught sculpture and printmaking. Albert H. Friedlander, writing for the Independent in London, reported years later in Baskin's obituary, "(He) taught with caustic wit joined with deep concern and affection for his students, from whom he demanded the utmost diligence. He applied the same standards to himself, even in the most difficult times."