Mixed media by Dan Basen (1939-1970). Provenance: Dan Basen | Private Collection, Natick, Massachusetts. Regarding his friendship with the artist, consignor states: “In the early 1960s, I had just gotten out of the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant and Public Relations Officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain, where I worked on PR for the Cdr. Alan Shephard NASA Mercury space capsule launch, America's first sub-orbital mission into space. I went immediately from that Navy tour of duty to become the Public Relations Director of the Wadsworth Atheneum Art Museum in Hartford. CT - America's oldest art museum (1844). It was there I met Dan Basen. He was living in West Hartford, CT at the time. He was part of the area's young active art community that gathered regularly in the museum for various events. Dan was also a good friend of the Wadsworth's famous curator of paintings Samuel J. Wagstaff Jr., who went on to become the patron and partner of the famed photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Sam was a great supporter of Dan and his vibrant work. We all were close friends in and outside of the museum. Being in PR, I was often asked by Dan to write the press releases for him for the art shows at which he was exhibiting in the area. Being a struggling artist, he presented me with his artwork in lieu of fees. Dan often visited me and my wife in our home, and we visited his. We became very good close friends. He and his creativity were fun and very exciting to be around. Then he moved on in the late ‘60s to New York City. That horrible April 1st in 1970, the day he ended his life, shocked and deeply saddened us greatly. I can still see him wagging his wild curly head and laughing excitedly over his latest creative effort. All that energy was in his work. He had no bounds. He seemed to have such a bright future. But no one knows a person's secret demons - especially a true artist's fears.” (Key Word Search: Robert Rauschenberg, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Motherwell, Richard Hamilton, Collage, Works on Paper) very good, not examined outside the frame