White Man Runs Him
1974
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph in black on Velin d'Arches wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 105.73 × 75.57 cm (41 5/8 × 29 3/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Jay Finkel
Accession Number
2013.121.123
Art Historical Context
**White Man Runs Him**, a striking 1974 lithograph by Leonard Baskin captures the intensity of its titular subject—a Crow scout who served with General Custer at the Battle of Little Bigh. Baskin, a master printmaker and sculptor (1922–2000), was renowned for his bold, figurative style, blending expressionism with social realism to explore themes of history, mortality, and the human condition. This work exemplifies his post-World War II revival of monumental printmaking, drawing on Old Master influences like Goya while addressing American narratives. Rendered in stark black ink on luxurious V...
About the Artist
Leonard Baskin
Leonard Baskin (1922–2000) was a towering figure in American art, renowned for his monumental sculptures, powerful woodcuts, and intricate book illustrations that grappled with the human condition's darker facets. Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to a family of rabbis, he moved to Brooklyn's Jewish Orthodox Williamsburg neighborhood at age seven. Vowing to become a sculptor at 15, Baskin apprent...