Leonard Baskin
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Leonard Baskin (1922 - 2000) was an American sculptor and artist.
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[edit] History and accomplishments
Born in 1922, Baskin was an accomplished sculptor, book illustrator, printmaker, graphic artist, writer and teacher. His most prominent public commissions include a bas relief for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and a bronze statue of a seated figure, erected in 1994 for the Holocaust Memorial in Ann Arbor, MI. His works are displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the British Museum, and the Vatican Museums.
From 1953 until 1974, he taught printmaking and sculpture at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. While he was a student at Yale University, he founded Gehenna Press, a small private press specializing in fine book production. He lived most of his life in the U.S., but spent nine years in Devon at Lurley Manor, Lurley, near Tiverton, close to his friend Ted Hughes -- for whom he illustrated Crow. There, he opened a studio, helping young people with sculpture and art. In recent years his art has come under criticism for its overwhelming negativity. He died on June 3, 2000 at the age of 77.
[edit] Awards
- Guggenheim Fellowship
- Gold Medal of the National Academy of Arts and Letters
- Special Medal of Merit of the American Institute of Graphic Arts
- Gold Medal of the National Academy of Design
[edit] Trivia
Baskin was a first cousin of American modern dancer and choreographer, Sophie Maslow.
