Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000). "Tobias and the Angel" wood engraving, n.d. Edition VIII of XII. Hand signed and numbered below image. A striking depiction of Tobias and the Archangel Raphael by Leonard Baskin. The scene is from the Book of Tobit in which the merchant Tobit has asked his son Tobias to embark on a journey to collect a debt. Tobias and the Archangel Raphael walk together, and Tobias bathes in the River Tigris when a huge fish leaps out. Raphael in turn asks Tobias to remove the fish's gallbladder, the liver, and the heart in order to create a potion to heal his father's blindness. Baskin's composition includes the Archangel Raphael in profile, Tobias emerging from the river with the large fish as well as a small dog behind him. A magnificent print of this religious subject rendered in Baskin's signature expressive manner. According to Jerry Weiss' recent review of an exhibition titled "Leonard Baskin: I Hold the Cracked Mirror Up to Man" at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine through January 15, 2023, "Baskin preferred printmaking to painting, for what he described as 'an immediacy of purpose that often is alien to the slower more contemplative medium of painting. Or to give wider circulation to an attitude, a feeling, a position that the inescapable singleness of a painting is incapable of.' Size (sheet): 20" L x 19" W (50.8 cm x 48.3 cm) Size (frame): 28.25" L x 26.75" W (71.8 cm x 67.9 cm)

The theme of Tobias and the Angel has been a favorite of artists since the Renaissance. Examples include the altar painting of Tobias and the Angel attributed to Andrea del Verrocchio, ca. 1470-1475, in London's National Gallery. Interestingly, art historians have also suggested that Leonardo da Vinci who belonged to Verrocchio's studio may have contributed by painting the dog and the fish in this work. In addition, Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo created an even earlier painting of the subject (ca. 1465-1470) that is in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin.

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 "Tobias and the Angel" has been collected by elite museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession number 58.536.1), the National Gallery of Art (accession number 1964.8.1773) In addition, Baskin's "Tobias and the Angel" appeared in the University of Notre Dame Art Gallery's exhibition titled "Good and Bad Angels" (1968).

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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#175929

This print is mounted in a custom frame behind glass. It has not been examined outside the frame but appears to be in very good condition. It is hand signed and numbered below the image. Frame is excellent save minor scuffs. Fit with a suspension wire and ready to display.