Crow and Raven

Baskin, Hughes, Manet, Poe

October 16, 2009–January 10, 2010

Leonard Baskin

Crow

1971. Collection of Lisa Unger Baskin 

What happens when poets and artists join forces? This focused exhibition explores two landmark publications that bring text and image together in celebration of a common subject: crows and ravens. In 1875 poet Stéphane Mallarmé and painter Édouard Manet produced Le Corbeau, a translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. This rare edition includes both English and French texts, as well as five lithographs and an advertisement designed by Manet. In 1973 American artist Leonard Baskin teamed with English poet Ted Hughes on Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow, a limited-edition book that combines poems and illustrations. The exhibition features the complete set of Baskin’s twelve powerful drawings for the book, never before seen in public..

Explore the long friendship between Baskin and Hughes on Wednesday, December 2, at 5:30 pm during the first-time American screening of the fascinating documentary video The Artist and the Poet: Leonard Baskin and Ted Hughes in Conversation. Following the video, there will be a conversation with Lisa Baskin and Jay A. Clarke, Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Clark. Admission is free.