Pomegranate
LEONARD BASKIN
American, 1922 – 2000
Pomegranate, 20th century
Woodblock print, trial proof
© Artist’s estate
Maria Herman Lania Print Collection; Gift of Frederick and Lucy S. Herman
1985.102
Though Leonard Baskin considered himself a sculptor, he is best known for his woodcuts. The pomegranate is a consistent motif in his work. It appears in numerous devices for his Gehenna Press books, as an object in his bronze sculpture Man with a Pomegranate, and in several of his woodcut New Years Cards. In Greek mythology, the story of Persephone eating six of the twelve pomegranate seeds offered to her by Pluto explains the seasons. In Jewish tradition the pomegranate represents righteousness, and some scholars argue it was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Whatever its precise meaning here, this recurrent motif in Baskin’s works suggests it was a personal symbol for him.
Inez Olszewski '22
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Related Items from
William & Mary Libraries, Special Collections Research Center
Artists' Books
Baskin is famous for establishing the Gehenna Press (1942) and for his own illustrated books.
Fifteen Woodcuts.
Call Number: Rare Book - Double Folio (NE1215 .B23 A56)
Artist: Baskin, Leonard, 1922-2000.
Subjects: Wood-engraving
Publisher: Boston: Boston University, 1962
Format: 15 plates, 57 cm.
Language: English
Title: Tormented Man
Date: 1953
17 x 19 inches
Call Number: Rare Book - Vinyard (N7433.4 .S365 B4 1994)
Artist: Schupbach-Gordon, Terry.
Subjects: Artists' books — United States — Specimens
People with disabilities — Poetry
People with disabilities in art
Description: Poem and artist's book.; Cover title.; "This book was printed on Gekkekan and Gampi Torinoko and Kitakata papers with Indian handmade covers. It was made to affirm the lives and bodies of people with disabilities."--Colophon.; Limited ed. of 100 signed and numbered copies.; Swem Library copy is no. 4.; Purchased for Swem Library with support from the Vinyard endowment fund.
Publisher: Pinnacle, N.C.: Catbird Press, c 1994
Format: [12] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.
Language: English