Artifex

Throughout his oeuvre Baskin explored not only book design, but also the history of printing. The Icones series of portraits, in particular, exemplifies his interest in the history of book making. These portraits and brief biographies document and sometimes fictionalize personages in the history of western printing and typography, binding, papermaking, and printmaking. This pantheon brought attention to little-known artisans as it also celebrated more famous artists. Baskin similarly developed his own artistic persona. He exemplified the notion of the artifex, making little distinction between the roles of master craftsman, artisan and artist.

Icones Librorum Artifices, I

Maria Sibylla Merian, a German botanist and entomologist, worked in Surinam at the turn of the eighteenth century. Her delicate illustrations were published as hand-colored engravings in her day, and today are much sought-after by collectors. Baskin's text is redolent of fondness for the intrepid, middle-aged voyager. His shaped text cleverly recalls the silhouette of an insect, a reference to the artists' mutual interest in insects.

Baskin here offers an apology for Jost Amman, often denigrated as more a costume designer than a serious wood cut artist. Baskin makes special mention of Amman's extensive artistic oeuvre and is probably making a reference to his own prolific output when he paraphrases Ecclesiastes 12: 12 in saying, "of the making of many drawings there is no end."

Beardsley is best remembered for his spectacularly detailed, imaginative illustrations for Oscar Wilde's work, in particular, Salome, published in 1896. Beardsley was also a passionate collector of books, and got his start by trading drawings for books. His life was sadly brief; he died from tuberculosis at age twenty-six. Beardsley’s interest in ornamental, bizarre, and grotesque forms greatly appealed to Baskin.

Icones Librorum Artifices, II

Continuing the iconography he had begun in the first Icones Librorum Artifices, Baskin made the project into a series with a second Icones in 2000. Jessie M. King was an important member of the arts and crafts movement in Glasgow, Scotland. A gifted book illustrator, textile designer, and decorator of bindings, King was versatile and made no distinction between traditional artistic pursuits and craftsmanship. As a champion of arts and crafts, King believed in the inherent worthiness of the artisan.

Jewish Artists of the Early & Late Renaissance

The enigmatic, humorous Jewish Artists of the Early & Late Renaissance, is written from the point of view of an imagined art historian, who acts as our guide through esoteric biographical details. This humorous work is in fact a fanciful pantheon of Jewish artists who might have flourished during the Renaissance, but didn’t. Baskin’s wit is as much in the text as in the images: he cites ficitional references and describes Brisquette’s impossibly dolorous personality and fetid-looking sculptures. For this project, Baskin’s son, Hosea, set and printed the letterpress, and his student, Michael Kuch, printed the complex color etchings.

Rodolphe Bresdin

Although Rodolphe Bresdin is best remembered as the master of the more famous Odilon Redon, Baskin avidly celebrated his work. Not only did he amass a sizeable collection of Bresdin's work, he devoted a Gehenna Press volume to previously unpublished Bresdin letters in 1969. This portrait was part of Laus Pictorum, a collection of fifteen portraits of nineteenth-century artists. This pantheon, or, to use Baskin's term, iconologia, honored his predecessors, many of whom had been neglected in art historical literature.