Leonard Baskin (August 15, 1922 – June 3, 2000) was an American sculptor, draughtsman and graphic artist. Baskin has been described as "the last great renaissance men" of his generation. His pieces feature in some of the world’s most prestigious galleries, museums, institutions and memorials. There are many pieces, here are just two of them.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial One of the FDR centre pieces is a 30 foot long bronze by Leonard Baskins called The Funeral Cortege https://npplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Mall-080.jpg

https://npplan.com/parks-by-state/washington-d-c-national-parks/national-mall-and-memorial-parks-park-at-a-glance/national-mall-and-memorial-parks-franklin-delano-roosevelt-memorial/

The Vatican In a room dedicated to two monumental bronzes stands “Issac” by Leonard Baskin. https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/collezione-d_arte-contemporanea/sala-12/leonard-baskin--isaac.html His pieces are highly regarded, discussed and desirable. For more information about Baskin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzSDg1IJKrc&t=2449s

The piece I am selling – Thistle and Dog The provenance of this piece is incredibly interesting. At some point it belonged to the house of Salomon Bochner, a mathematician whose research profoundly influenced the development of a wide area of analysis in the last three-quarters of the twentieth century. https://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/bochner-salomon.pdf

He moved from Germany during the war to take up a position at Princeton. And as per the information on the back of the piece, it was donated to the Smithsonian by his wife, possibly in 1970. Both Baskin and Bochner were in New Jersey at the same time, the piece could have been a gift, an award for service or perhaps something the Brochner family purchased for themselves. Either way, it is a piece with some a great history.