Printmaker Leonard Baskin (1922-2000) began a series of enormous woodcuts in 1952, shortly after returning to the United States and a teaching position at Smith College. The artist wrote, “I think of the series … as a kind of ambulatory mural. They are insistently black, complexly cut, and reasonably successful in causing alarm, misgivings, and exaltation.”
“I should say that the mastodon woodcuts are the capital achievement of my printmaking activity. Imbedded in those 12 blocks are the traces of my tangled vision.” quoted from Alan Fern, The Complete prints of Leonard Baskin (Boston: Little, Brown, 1984): 8. Marquand SA oversize NE539.B2 F47Q
Graphic Arts is fortunate to hold 7 or the 12 massive prints. Here are a few images.
