Yom Kippur Angel

Label Text Leonard Baskin was an American sculptor and printmaker best known for his woodcuts, chiefly for book illustration. He was the founder of the Gehenna Press (1942-2000), one of the first fine art presses in the US. Jewish culture is a prominent theme in his work. Both his father and brother were rabbis and Baskin himself attended a yeshiva (traditional Jewish school) as a child. The text in the bottom left corner of this piece says "Yom Kippur," a Jewish High Holiday also known as the Day of Atonement. Traditionally, Yom Kippur is observed with fasting, prayer, and introspection; there is a popular idea that during this day of intense self-reflection, people can rise to the level of angels, which Baskin alludes to in this work, depicting a man in the process of transformation. Baskin's work is held by major museums across the US. Source:Des Moines Art Center News, Sep Ocy Nov Dec 2023

DimensionsSheet: 41 1/2 × 29 1/2 in. (105.4 × 74.9 cm)
Plate: 35 1/4 × 23 3/4 in. (89.5 × 60.3 cm)

Accession Number 2023.17

Classificationsprint

CopyrightEstate of Leonard Baskin represented by Galerie St. Etienne

SignedBaskin (l,r graphite)

Inscriptionsיום כיפור 1978 BASKIN (l,l in plate) 18/150 (l,l graphite)

Catalogue raisonnéFern & O'Sullivan 674

Edition18/150

MarksBFK RIVES FRANCE (l,r watermark)

Paper/SupportRives BFK paper

ProvenanceRichard and Kay Ward, Sarasota, FL; Des Moines Art Center [gift of the previous, 2023]