An exhibition of 70 works by the contemporary
American artist, Leonard Baskin (1922-2000)—mainly his prints, etchings,
and drawings--just opened at the Delaware Art Museum. The collection is a gift
donated to the museum by Alfred Appel, Jr. and his wife, Nina, and includes
some handcrafted cards and correspondence by Baskin to Alfred. Many of
Alfred’s relatives, as well as his widow, flew in from various parts of
the U.S. to attend the opening last Saturday. Unfortunately, I did not find
out about it until the next day. I did have a chance to speak with Danielle
Rice, the museum’s director, who told me that the Appels had donated the
collection last year--before Alfred’s sudden death—and that she had
greatly looked forward to meeting him at the opening.
Included in this impressive exhibit are a charming
photo of Alfred and a display of his books—among them The Annotated
Lolita and Nabokov’s Dark Cinema. I was saddened, once again,
by Alfred’s loss but cheered by a (positively Nabokovian) quote from Baskin
on the subject of pop art: “it ranges from the inedible to the
unspeakable.”
The exhibit runs until January 9th.
Ellen Pifer