New Look at Print Ouevre of Renowned American Artist Leonard Baskin Reveals a Fowl Obession and Other Secrets

CONTACT: Glenn Scott Michaels

PHONE: 602. 257.0857

EMAIL: gsmichaels@yahoo.com

NEW LOOK AT PRINT OEUVRE OF RENOWNED AMERICAN ARTIST, LEONARD BASKIN, REVEALS A FOWL OBSESSION AND OTHER SECRETS

March 1, 2007. Phoenix, AZ: The American artist, Leonard Baskin (1922-2000), whose figurative prints, sculpture, illustrations and work as the founder of the esteemed Gehenna Press, brought him world-wide acclaim, may have concealed a fowl obsession -among other things - in his work, according to an otherwise unknown Phoenix, Arizona, art lover and Baskin admirer, Glenn Scott Michaels. "Apparently, Baskin felt he had something to hide and he hid 'it' in his own work," says Michaels. "As far as I'm concerned, it's tantamount to fowl play."

"The image of a large, black bird, designed into the hip and thigh of the figure literally seemed to leap out of the image one morning, as I walked from my kitchen into the dining room, where the print is located," Michaels says. "I was shocked. I couldn't believe my own eyes."

Michaels, who owns an edition of the 6' x 39" Baskin print, Tyrannus, was shocked when a second image seemed to leap out of the structure of the main image. At first glance, the print, dated 1982, seems to look at and perhaps inside a brutal, frightening man.

The title of the piece, Tyrannus, may well be an allusion to the ancient Greek literary classic, Oedipus The King (in Greek: Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus Rex) by Sophocles.

The first "bird" that Michaels noticed hidden in the print as seen in original format

Michaels says he has owned the print for nearly 10 years and sits right beside it when he eats breakfast and dinner. He had the print in clear view every day for years. "I guess that's why I was so surprised. I just don't expect an image I'm familiar with to be filled with unexpected content."

While Baskin frequently sculpted or depicted birds in his work, Michaels believes his discovery may add another dimension to the common understanding of the artist's work. "As far as I'm concerned, Baskin was making a statement. At the very least, he was telling us something about how little we actually notice about the nature of things in front of our eyes." states Michaels. Including art!

Scottsdale, Arizona, art dealer William Bishop, owner of the Bishop Gallery sold Michaels the Tyrannus print. He sold the original wood block to another Phoenix area art lover. But even he wasn't aware of the hidden image(s), Michaels says.

If Baskin hid one image in the print, might he have hidden others? Michaels thinks so. In fact, he thinks Baskin hid images in multiple pieces. "Most of the birds are more abstract than the first one I found," Michaels says. "However, Baskin frequently created very free, very abstract images of birds. So I don't think anyone can say that it's all just 'horse feathers.'"

Michaels visited the Burton Barr Public Library in Phoenix to examine The Complete Prints of Leonard Baskin. What he found may confirm this thesis. Baskin's image of Captain Ahab, a character in the novel, Moby Dick, also incorporates a hidden bird, says Michaels. A rotated view of the figure's chest, on the left side of the image, reveals a sea gull.

As yet another example of Baskin's playful way with nature and fowl, Michaels points to another Baskin image, Desdemona, (shown below). Inverting the image, Michaels says, reveals what is either a goose or a swan head.

Michaels also suspects that Baskin included some Hebrew letters in the hands of the Tyrannus figure. "I would like to know what Hebrew language and Baskin experts think about all this."

"In reviewing the Baskin literature available to me, I found no other reference to hidden images," Michaels says. Is it really possible that all the artists, collectors, critics and art historians who have examined Baskin's work have missed Baskin's fowl play? Why did Baskin hide images within his work? What was Baskin trying to suggest? Was it just a test of sorts, perhaps a private game?

If nothing else, Michaels says, Baskin found a way to keep an average art lover interested in looking at his work. "When an image becomes an enigma, it also comes alive in the imagination. Perhaps that was Baskin's real goal: to create a piece of art as puzzling, as alive, as people themselves."

In 1969, Leonard Baskin was just the third artist, after Ben Shahn and George Grosz, to be awarded a Gold Medal by both the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Baskin was a two-time recipient of the Tiffany Fellowship and also received a Guggenheim Fellowship. Baskin was also the first American artist given the honor of an exhibition by the Albertina (collection) in Vienna, Austria (New York Times, Feb. 14, 1970).

Michaels, who lives in Phoenix, currently works as a marketing communications consultant in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a painter and sculptor whose work has been exhibited widely in Arizona and has been included in several museum sponsored exhibits. Michaels is currently developing a short essay on Baskin's hidden images and intentions. A working draft of the essay can be reviewed at: www.sitekreator.com/gsmichaels/the_enigma_of_leonard_baskins_tyrannus.html.

For more information, contact Glenn Scott Michaels at (602) 257-0857 or gsmichaels@yahoo.com.

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