Ben Shahn Paintings
American, 1898-1969
Ben Shahn (1898 – 1969) was a Lithuanian-born American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as The Shape of Content. Shahn began his path to becoming an artist in New York, where he was first trained as a lithographer. Shahn's early experiences with lithography and graphic design is apparent in his later prints and paintings which often include the combination of text and image. Shahn's primary medium was egg tempera, popular among social realists. Shahn mixed different genres of art. His body of art is distinctive for its lack of traditional landscapes, still lifes, and portraits. Shahn used both expressive and precise visual languages, which he coalesced through the consistency of his authoritative line. Shahn is also noted for his use of unique symbolism, which is often compared to the imagery in Paul Klee's drawings. His art is striking but also introspective. He often captured figures engrossed in their own worlds. Although he used many mediums, his pieces are consistently thoughtful and playful.(Biography provided by ArtWise)
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Artist: Ben Shahn
Basketball Player
By Ben Shahn
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Basketball Player
Gouache on card stock, c. 1940
Signed by the artist in ink lower center
A study for the fresco mural in the Social Security Buildin...
Category
1940s American Modern Ben Shahn Paintings
Materials
Gouache
Suzanna and the Elders
By Ben Shahn
Located in Miami, FL
A modern interpretation of the biblical story Suzanna and the Elders.
Signed lower right
Ink and wash on paper
The Downtown Gallery
Felix Landau Gallery
Ernest Brown & Phillips, Ltd...
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1940s American Modern Ben Shahn Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Gouache, Archival Paper
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Ben Shahn
1898-1969
A painter, teacher, graphic artist, and photographer, Ben Shahn was devoted to the figurative tradition and was one of the more significant social critics among painters of the 20th century.
He was born in Kaunus, Lithuania on September 12, 1898, and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1906. From the ages of 15 to 18, Shahn was apprenticed to a New York lithographer. In 1919, he enrolled at New York University, completing his studies at the City College of New York in 1924. After 2 years studying at the National Academy of Design, Shahn traveled in Europe and North Africa. Returning to America, he had his first one-man show in 1929.
Shahn's mature style and his emphasis on specific social themes date from the 1930s. His art was influenced by photographer Walker Evans, with whom he shared quarters. In 1931-1932, Shahn painted 23 gouaches and 2 mural panels based on the Sacco and Vanzetti case. The best known is the Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, executed in tempera, with elongated bodies and slight caricature of the faces, the work is a masterpiece of understatement. This style remains consistent throughout his work. Fifteen gouache studies (1932-1933) dealing with labor leader Tom Mooney aroused the interest of Mexican mural painter Diego Rivera, and Shahn became Rivera's assistant on the murals for the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center, New York City.
In the eight paintings on the theme of prohibition for the Public Works Arts Project, Shahn used techniques learned from Rivera in murals and panel paintings commissioned by numerous Federal agencies. The one titled W.C.T.U. Parade (1933-1934) is best known. His mural for the Community Center of the Federal Housing Development in Roosevelt, N.J. (1937-1938), is the most typical. Shahn's themes reflected a variety of topical problems from anti-semitism to unfair labor conditions. He framed them into a continuous wall plane that is subdivided by architectural devices. Though he borrowed the organizing motifs from Rivera, Shahn's murals are regarded as generally more readable and less crowded. Not as well known are his photographs for the Farm Security Administration. A typical photograph is the one titled Arkansas Share Cropper's Family.
During the 1940s Shahn executed graphics for the Office of War Information and, later, for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Register, Vote, a 1944 employment poster for the CIO, shows his concern with social equality and his ability to integrate language and visual form in a coherent design.
He had a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1947.
After the 1940s Shahn moved from what he called "social realism" to a "personal realism." He also increasingly turned to tempera painting and graphics. Yet his iconography was never "personal" or autobiographical. Rather, he reached a universal expression through the devices of symbolism and allegory, the stylized line, and the colorful palette, which are hallmarks of his style. Whether his subject was music or a theme after the Spanish artist Francisco Goya, it is said that he could evoke worlds with a single pen stroke or color overlay. Blind Botanist...
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Ben Shahn paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Ben Shahn paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Ben Shahn in gouache, paint, watercolor and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 1940s and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Ben Shahn paintings, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Julio de Diego, Byron Browne, and Leon Kelly. Ben Shahn paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $7,500 and tops out at $7,500, while the average work can sell for $7,500.
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Questions About Ben Shahn Paintings
- What style of art is Ben Shahn?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertFebruary 7, 2024The style of art of Ben Shahn is social realism. Artists working in this movement sought to highlight social issues by depicting scenes that showed the struggles of modern-day life. For example, Shahn produced four paintings and more than 100 drawings inspired by a 1947 mining accident that killed 111 people in Centralia, Illinois. Arguably the most famous of these works is Miner's Wives, which shows the widows of the miners in mourning. On 1stDibs, shop a variety of Ben Shahn art.