Synopsis:

The statute of limitations apparently dictates the media -- and everyone else -- must lose interest in the work of any famous artist who hasn't been dead at least 20 years.

The work of the world-famous American print maker and sculptor, Leonard Baskin, is widely held by museums and collectors. His artistry was honored with multiple many major awards...a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a Gold Medal for Graphic Arts from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and a Gold Medal from the National Academy of Design.  Among others.

Galleries and museums worldwide have exhibited his work. His sculpture, prints and art books are held in thousands of individual and museum collections.

So it seems more than a little odd that I have found no reference, in any of the articles and publications I have reviewed about this artist, to his penchant for "hiding" secondary images within at least some of his work.  In a number of cases, the images he hid were of birds.

Feeling strongly about the possible value of this information, I forwarded  letters to the curators of multiple museums, particularly to the curators of print collections, whom I thought most likely to have an interest in or knowledge of Baskin's work. I even included photocopies of Baskin prints and identified what I believed to be the "hidden" images.

I have yet to receive a single response from anyone I attempted to contact. Art magazine editors? Art critics? They have proved to be equally immune to the slightest curiosity about my claims. 

Is it, God forbid,  a conspiracy?  No, I'm certain there's no conspiracy. Either...

• I'm the victim of my own hyperbolic imagination

• Arts professionals find it nearly impossible to grant credence to ideas and insights that don't spring from the ranks of their own peers

• Leonard Baskin simply hasn't been dead long enough to warrant reconsideration by anyone still living. (After all, look how long Caravaggio had to wait!)

Of course, that doesn't explain why a letter to the folks behind the scenes at the Gehenna Press (Gehenna@midcooast.com), founded by Leonard Baskin, didn't elicit a response either.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Glenn Scott Michaels

PHONE: 602. 257.0857

EMAIL: gsmichaels@yahoo.com

LEONARD BASKIN! WHY DID YOU HIDE A BIRD IN THE THIGH OF OEDIPUS?

October 14, 2009. Phoenix, Ariz: It's no secret that American artist, Leonard Baskin (1922-2000) incorporated images of birds in a large number of pieces. So, for example, he created multiple self-portraits in which birds appear in lieu of hair. He created multiple pieces, in bronze and as prints, featuring life-size "bird men."

Baskin's figurative prints, sculpture, illustrations and work as the founder of the esteemed Gehenna Press earned world-wide acclaim.

In an article for the Phoenix New Times, in 2000, Kathleen Vanesian described one of Baskin's pieces on display at the West Valley Art Museum...

"Using black birds to psychologically represent the dark side of the human psyche, The Resurrection of the Dead: In Any Case the Owls and Crows Will Represent Us depicts a conclave of large predatory crows and ravens, perched on skulls, orchestrated by a skeleton-bird. It is to be noted that such birds live on decaying flesh, and in popular mythology the raven is said to have a special fondness for the corpses of hanged men. Baskin has long used these birds, associated with darkness, night and evil in many cultures, as symbolic harbingers of misfortune, disease, war and death."

So why, for goodness sake, did Baskin feel the need to insert - as in conceal or hide - images of birds and perhaps other things, inside his pieces? 

Come to think about it, the question of why he did it is  secondary. First, it must be proved that he did it at all!

The dealer who sold me that print, Scottsdale, Arizona, art dealer William Bishop, owner of the Bishop Gallery, represented Baskin for years. A tremendously erudite individual, he was also a friend of the artist and sponsored several exhibitions of Baskin's work. Indeed, all but two of  the pieces by Baskin at the West Valley Art Museum exhibition referenced above came from the gallery of William Bishop.

But when I called  and inquired whether he was aware of the image within the image, it turned out that he wasn't. That was a bit shocking, too. After all, one assumes the experts know everything.

So if Baskin had hidden one image inside Tyrannus, might he have hidden others in the same image? And what about other images? Had Baskin only used this technique once?

It seems to me that Leonard hid multiple images inside Tyrannus. Though, admittedly, none seem quite as incontrovertible as the first one, identified above.

In any case, it is also true that 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.'"

 Two birds in one Tyrannus were enough to compel me to visit the Burton Barr Public Library in Phoenix. There I found The Complete Prints of Leonard Baskin. And inside of that, I discovered something that seemed to confirm my suspicion that Baskin used the same technique in multiple pieces.

Baskin's image of Captain Ahab, a character in the novel, Moby Dick, also seems to incorporate a hidden bird. Take a look.

 Here's another example of Baskin's playful way with nature and with fowl. Take a look at dear, sweet Desdemona, (shown below).

I also suspect that Baskin included Hebrew letters in the hands of the Tyrannus figure. In fact, I would love to know what Hebrew language and Baskin experts think about all this. I've contacted two rabbis, at least one of which professed a deep interest in Baskin's work and gotten absolutely no response. A friend of mine who studied Hebrew thought she recognized some letters, but couldn't interpret them. I'm still looking for answers or suggestions from a knowledgeable source.

In reviewing the Baskin literature available to me, I have found no other reference to hidden images. Is it really possible that all the artists, collectors, critics and art historians who have examined Baskin's work could have missed Baskin's "hidden" images? Or am I victim of my own wishful thinking?

My opinion is obvious. What's yours?

And why, Leonard Baskin, did you need to hide the images at all?  What were you hinting at?  Or was it just a test of sorts, perhaps a private game?

If nothing else, 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.

Alternately, you might conclude that Baskin was making a statement. Perhaps, with a wink and a nudge, he was telling us something about how little we actually notice about the nature of things in front of our eyes. Including art!

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).

Yours truly lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and currently works as technical documentation specialist for the locally based subsidiary of a large corporation. I, too, am an image-maker. My work has been exhibited widely in Arizona and has been included in several museum sponsored exhibits.

For whatever it's worth, I think that I've identified a few cats inside the Tyrannus, too.

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

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