Shahn, Ben. BLIND BOTANIST. P.47. Serigraph in black and green, 1961. Edition of 100, printed on Arches paper. Signed lower right with red brush, and upper left with the red chop, and inscribed "To Peggy" above the signature, lower right. 38 1/4 x 23 1/2 inches (image); 39 7/8 x 25 3/8 inches (sheet). In excellent condition. The picture of the botanist is printed in black, and the calligraphy at the bottom is printed in green. It reads: "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...Robert Hooke, Micrographia, 1665." According to Prescott, the theme of the Blind Botanist is one which Shahn used in several works including three prints (one of which exists in a unique image, P46, and the other is a color lithograph, P50), a drawing and a painting. Prescott chose this print as the Dust Jacket illustration for "The Complete Graphic Works of Ben Shahn," highlighting its importance within Shahn's oeuvre, and its power as a graphic image.
