Israeli artist Sol Baskin. Mosaic of a Lifetime. 2007. Limited Edition (not stated how many). HC. DJ damaged, book ...

Israeli artist Sol Baskin. Mosaic of a Lifetime. 2007. Limited Edition (not stated how many). HC. DJ damaged, book in quite good condition. Inscribed by the artist. 30 x 39 cm. 101 pages. 1.500 k"g
Shalom (Sol) Baskin (August 15, 1923 – January 17, 2017) was an Israeli painter and sculptor. He served as a combat officer in the United States Army during World War II, and later served as a combat officer (with the rank of Major) in the Israel Defense Forces during the early days of the State of Israel.

Baskin was born in 1923 in the small town of Pochayev in Ukraine. When he was two years old, his family immigrated to Chicago, in the United States. He grew up in a Jewish family; his parents were Chabad Hasidim, and his grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Mordechai, was well-known in the Jewish community of Pochayev. He met his wife, Rachel Harrison (the sister of Michal Modai), who was a seventh-generation descendant in the Land of Israel, while they both served in the IDF. Sol and Rachel had two sons and a daughter.

Baskin served for nearly three years in the U.S. Army as an infantryman in the 34th Infantry Division in Tunisia and during the Italian Campaign. Over the course of 18 months of fighting, he took part in several fierce battles, including the Battle of Monte Cassino, at Anzio, and in the mountainous regions leading to the Po Valley. He was commissioned as an officer on the battlefield and served as an officer in the same unit throughout the war.

After World War II, he returned to Europe and became heavily involved in the “Aliyah Bet” (illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine under the British Mandate). He also traveled the world as a merchant seaman. While in China, he learned about the United Nations’ decision regarding the establishment of the State of Israel, and he arrived in the Land of Israel in April 1948.

He enlisted in the Haganah and joined the 3rd Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade, initially serving as a platoon commander and later as a company commander, ultimately finishing his military service in the brigade as a reconnaissance unit commander.

Throughout his life, whether as a U.S. soldier, a merchant seaman, or an IDF officer, Baskin documented his experiences in photographs and sketches.