Social Realism
Ben Shahn is most closely associated with this movement, due to coming to prominence on the strength of his socially-concious paintings and FSA photography of the Depression Era.
September 12, 1898, Kovno, Lithuania
It's hard to know what to spotlight in this instance. Ben Shahn was passionate about social injustice, and used painting, photography, commercial art, graphic design - and words! (he was that rare artist able to articulate the process of art) - to make his points. He was a Professor of Poetry at Harvard, and was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1959) to defend his "Communist" views. Perhaps he'd not have been too unhappy with, "Best known for telling visual stories."
- • The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti (series; 1931-32)
- • Jersey Homesteads Mural (1937-38)
- • Portrait of Myself When Young (1943)
- • The Red Stairway (1944)
- • Liberation (1945)
- • Mask (1956-57)
March 14, 1969, New York City
- Shahn, Ben. The Shape of Content. Harvard University Press, 1957.
- Greenfeld, Howard. Ben Shahn: An Artist's Life. Random House, Inc., 1998.
- Kao, Deborah Martin; Katzman, Laura and Webster, Jenna. Ben Shahn's New York: The Photography of Modern Times. Harvard University Art Museums and Yale University Press, 2000.
See more resources on Ben Shahn by following the links at right
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(Image scan courtesy and copyright of Mark Harden, used with kind permission. Please visit The Artchive for more fine resources.)
