Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000). "Birdman" etching, ca. 1969. Edition 22 of 110. Hand-signed with edition number below image. An eerie intersection between daydream and nightmare, an etching by the legendary Leonard Baskin titled "Birdman" that depicts a fantastical, avian-human hybrid with the head, talons, and wings of a bird, yet the torso, legs, buttocks, and genitalia of a man. The beast strides right with its lengthy, curved beak projecting forward, petite feathers of the head delineated by short strokes, and sizable plumes emerging from the wings. While the hybrid bird and human form is not uncommon in Western art, tracing back many millennia, Baskin's execution is a startling sight; the intense realism of the bird juxtaposed with the bulging gut and coarsely etched genitalia of the man seem to embody Baskin's characteristic unsparing look at reality achieving his self-proclaimed aim to "evoke alarm and misgivings in the viewer." Size of image: 17.5" W x 24.25" H (44.4 cm x 61.6 cm) Size of frame: 27.75" W x 33.75" H (70.5 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.

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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#175924

Hand-signed with edition number below image. Set in a custom frame and matte behind glass with suspension wire on verso. Etching has not been examined outside of frame but appears to be in overall excellent condition. Frame has a few minor nicks but is otherwise intact and excellent.