The Old Print Shop

Blind Botanist.

  • ARTIST: Ben Shahn

  • MEDIUM: Lithograph printed in color,

    DATE: 1963.

  • EDITION SIZE: Edition c.200. Paper size 26 3/4 x 20 1/2" (67.9 x 52.3 cm).

  • DESCRIPTION: Signed in red paint, lower right. "A. Manaranche Grav. Lith." lower left. Printed by A. Manaranche, Fernand Mourlot, Paris. This 1963 lithograph printed in color is a fine example of Ben Shahn’s long preoccupation with the theme of the blind botanist and illustrates his concern with what he called “The paradox of man’s goals.” Printed by A. Manaranche, Fernand Mourlot, Paris, in an edition circa 200. Signed in red paint, lower right. "A. Manaranche Grav. Lith." lower left. This recurring image of the “Blind Botanist” appears in different drawings, paintings, and prints by Shahn. In one printed version Shahn included a quotation from the “Micrographia” (1664) by Robert Hooke. “So many are the links, upon which : the true philosophy depends, of which : If one be loose or weak, the whole chain is in : danger of being dissolved; it is to begin with the : Hands and the Eyes; and proceed on the memory : to be continued by the reason; nor is it to : stop there, but to come to the Hands and Eyes again…”

  • ADDITIONAL INFO:

  • CONDITION: Very good condition.

  • REFERENCE: "The Complete Graphic Works of Ben Shahn." Kenneth W. Prescott #50.