Ben
Shahn
was born in
Kaunas, Lithuania in 1898. His family
emigrated to America in 1904 and after he completed his schooling,
Shahn became a lithographer's apprentice. Shahn continued his studies
at night school and eventually attended New
York University and the National Academy of Design (1917-21).
In the 1920s Shahn became a Social Realist and his work was often
inspired by news reports. Text and lettering formed an integral part
of his designs. Shahn held strong socialist
views and his art often referred to cases of social injustice. A good
example of this concerns the drawings about the proposed execution
of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti. He also played an important role in the campaign against
the imprisonment of the trade union leader,
Tom Mooney.
Ben Shahn, Cotton Picker, Arkansas (1935)
Shan's graphic work appeared
in the Art Front, Fortune
Magazine and Harper's Bazaar.
In 1934 he joined the Public Works of Art Project and completed several
public murals that dealt with issues such as anti-semitism and poor
working conditions.
Shahn also worked as a photographer and in
1935 he was invited by Roy
Stryker
to join the the federally sponsored Farm Security
Administration. This small group of photographers, including Arthur
Rothstein, Carl Mydans, Russell
Lee,Walker Evans and
Dorothy Lange, were employed to publicize
the conditions of the rural poor in America. Over the next few years
Lange produced several notable photographs such as Migrant
Mother (1936).
During the Second
World War Shahn produced posters for the Office of War Information
and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). His interest in
political art continued and his Lucky Dragon
series (1960-62) dealt with the story of a Japanese fishing vessel
that sailed into an atomic testing area. Ben
Shahn died in 1969.
Ben Shahn,
United States War Poster (1942)
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