Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 9

Ben Shahn
"Two Days of Childhood That are Still Unexplained, " Litho signed by Ben Shahn

1968

About the Item

"Two Days of Childhood That are Still Unexplained" from "For the Sake of a Single Verse" is an original lithograph signed in the lower right by the artist Ben Shahn. It depicts six female figures in long coats. One group is silhouetted in blue and the other in a pastel purple. 22 1/2" x 17 5/8" art 32 3/4" x 28" frame Ben Shahn (American, September 12, 1898 - March 14, 1969) was a painter, lithographer, and photographer best known for his left-wing political leanings, works of social realism, and The Shape of Content, a publication of his lectures. Shahn was born in Kovno, Lithuania, when the country was still occupied by the Russian Empire. In 1902, Shahn's father, Joshua Hessel, was exiled to Siberia. Shahn then moved to Vilkomir, Lithuania, with his mother, Gittel, and his two siblings. Their family moved to the United States in 1906 to join their father who had fled from exile. After settling in Brooklyn, NY, Shahn began to train in lithography and graphic design, and his favorite medium was egg tempera. In 1919, Shahn enrolled in New York University to study Biology before entering the City College in 1921 to study Art. He also studied Art at the National Academy of Design. In the 1920s, Shahn and his wife traveled around Africa and Europe to study the works of renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881- 1973) and Raoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953). In 1933, Shahn worked as an assistant of Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886 - 1957); at this time, Rivera was working on the mural at the Rockefeller Center in New York. Two years later, Shahn was recommended by Walker Evans (American, 1903 - 1975) to join the Farm Security Administration photographic group. One of the artist’s most famous works is the fresco mural he did for the Jersey Homesteads' community center. Shahn also worked on murals for the state on the Federal Security Building and the Bronx Central Annex Post Office. During the Second World War, Shahn made a series of paintings laced with anti-war sentiments. An example of his work during this period is Death on the Beach. Shahn's famous portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. is an example of work he did commercially for Time. He also did commercial works for CBS, Fortune, and Harper's. In 1954, Shahn represented the United States at the Venice Biennale alongside Willem de Kooning (Dutch, 1904 - 1997). In the last two decades of his life, Shahn was active in academics and received honorary doctorates from several universities, such as Princeton University in Princeton, NY, and Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. He had exhibited at institutions including Edith Halpert's Downtown Gallery in New York, NY, in 1930, and New Jersey State Museum, in Trenton, in 1969. His works can be found in numerous galleries, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Shahn died in New York in 1969.
  • Creator:
    Ben Shahn (1898-1969, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1968
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 32.75 in (83.19 cm)Width: 28 in (71.12 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 12444g1stDibs: LU60532175703
More From This SellerView All
  • 'Circular Motion' original lithograph signed by Georges Schreiber
    By Georges Schreiber
    Located in Milwaukee, WI
    In this lithograph, Georges Schreiber focused on the thrill of the circus, taking its circular composition from the central ring. Here, acrobats perform amazing feats of agility on t...
    Category

    1940s American Modern Animal Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph

  • "Victoria" original lithograph signed by Malvin Marr "Zsissly" Albright
    By Malvin Marr Albright
    Located in Milwaukee, WI
    The present print, "Victoria," is the most iconic example of the printmaking of Malvin Marr Albright, called Zsissly. The composition for the image comes from Albright's painting from about 1935, done while he was studying at the Art Institute of Chicago. We can see clearly in the image how he possesses the same skill for unsettling, magic realist images as his more famous twin brother Ivan Le Lorraine: The lady Victoria sits at a dining room table, surrounded by luxurious still-life objects. All the textures and surfaces of the image express a horror vacui as seen in his painted works, such as "The Trail of Time is Dust" at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. The door in this print recalls one of the more famous works by his brother, "That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door)" at the Art Institute of Chicago. 1947, after ca. 1935 original painting 8 1/2 x 13 inches, image 12 x 16 inches, sheet 16 1/4 x 20 1/2 frame Signed in pencil, lower right Title in pencil, lower left Published by Associated American Artists Inc. Unnumbered from the edition of 250 A painter and sculptor, Malvin Albright was born in Chicago, one of twin sons of Adam Emory Albright, famous Chicago figure painter of juvenile subjects, who often used Malvin and his brother Ivan Le Lorraine as models. Malvin's middle name, Marr, was after Wisconsin artist Carl von Marr...
    Category

    1940s American Modern Figurative Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph

  • 'Lobsterman's Wharf, Maine' original lithograph signed by "Zsissly" Albright
    By Malvin Marr Albright
    Located in Milwaukee, WI
    'Lobsterman's Wharf, Maine' is an original lithograph signed by Malvin Marr "Zsissly" Albright. While Malvin Marr – along with his better-known identical twin Ivan Albright – was known for his meticulous and unsettling magic realist compositions, he and his brother were also prolific in capturing landscapes of the coast of Maine where the two spent several consecutive summers away from Chicago over their lives. Sometimes these Maine landscapes and views would be painterly and seemingly antithetical to the careful realism of his other work; but in this example, however, the wharf is treated with the same macabre decay as his human subjects. In the composition, the shack...
    Category

    1940s American Modern Figurative Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph

  • "Derriere Le Miroir, " Three Original Color Lithographs by Saul Steinberg
    By Saul Steinberg
    Located in Milwaukee, WI
    "Derriere Le Miroir" is an original color lithograph signed by the artist Saul Steinberg. The artist's signature is in the bottom left margin. Image Size: 14"x20" Frame Size: 25 5/8...
    Category

    1970s American Modern Figurative Prints

    Materials

    Paper, Lithograph

  • 'The Rabbit' original woodcut engraving by Clarice George Logan
    By Clarice George Logan
    Located in Milwaukee, WI
    In 'The Rabbit,' Wisconsin artist Clarice George Logan presents the viewer with a multi-figural scene: under a wood-frame structure, four children crouch on the ground, gathered around a young woman who presents a rabbit. Under normal circumstances, such an image of children with a bunny would recall childhood storybooks. In this case, however, the image is more ambiguous and suggests the unfortunate economic circumstances many children suffered during the interwar years. Nonetheless, the group could also be interpreted as a nativity play, with the rabbit taking the place of the Christ child, shining light on the children like in a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Correggio. The careful line-work of the woodblock engraving adds a sense of expressionism to the scene, leaving the figures looking distraught and dirty, though the image nonetheless falls into the Social Realist category that dominated American artists during the Great Depression. This print was published in 1936 as part of the Wisconsin Artists' Calendar for the year 1937, which included 52 original, hand-made prints - one for each week of the year. Clarice George Logan was born in Mayville, New York in 1909 but moved to Wisconsin in 1921. She attended the Milwaukee State Teachers College from 1927 to 1931 where she studied with Robert von...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Figurative Prints

    Materials

    Engraving, Woodcut

  • 'Monday in Wick Haven' original linoleum cut print by Howard Thomas
    By Howard Thomas
    Located in Milwaukee, WI
    In this image, Howard Thomas presents the viewer with a domestic interior. The image is dominated by the figure of a black woman, resting her arm on an ironing board. To the right, the tool of her task dangles a chord above a checker tiled floor. Beyond, though a window, neighboring homes fill the landscape. The careful line-work of the linocut adds a sense of expressionism to the scene, but the image nonetheless falls into the Social Realism that captivated most American artists during the Great Depression. This print was published in 1936 as part of the Wisconsin Artists' Calendar for the year 1937, which included 52 original, hand-made prints – one for each week of the year. 6 x 5 inches, image 10 x 7.13 inches, sheet 12.37 x 12.43 inches, frame Entitled "Monday in Wick Haven" lower left (covered by matting) Inscribed "Linoleum Cut" lower center (covered by matting) Artist name "Howard Thomas" lower right (covered by matting) Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting and museum glass, all housed in a silver gilded moulding. Quaker-born in Ohio, Thomas trained in the Midwest at Ohio State University and the Chicago Art Institute. He taught in the Art Department of the Milwaukee State Teachers College (now University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) where he became good friends with Carl Holty, Edward Boerner, Robert von Neumann...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Figurative Prints

    Materials

    Engraving, Linocut

You May Also Like
  • Discussion
    By Thomas Hart Benton
    Located in London, GB
    A fine impression with large full margins published by Associated American Artists.
    Category

    1930s American Modern Figurative Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph

  • Old Man Reading
    By Thomas Hart Benton
    Located in London, GB
    A fine impression with full margins with minor discolouration published by Associated American Artists with their information label attached.
    Category

    1940s American Modern Figurative Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph

  • Prodigal Son
    By Thomas Hart Benton
    Located in London, GB
    A fine impression with full margins published by Associated American Artists with their information label present - pictured in Art and Popular Religion in Evangelical America, 1815-...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Landscape Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph

  • Down the River
    By Thomas Hart Benton
    Located in London, GB
    A fine impression of this popular Benton image with good margins.
    Category

    1930s American Modern Figurative Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph

  • Alfred Bendiner, Place St. Andre des Arts (Paris)
    By Alfred Bendiner
    Located in New York, NY
    The Place St. Andre des Arts, on the Left Bank in Paris, would have been a natural environment for Bendiner. It was the Latin Quarter, just south of the Louvre and near everything im...
    Category

    1950s American Modern Landscape Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph

  • Sunday Afternoon
    By Lucille Fink
    Located in New York, NY
    Lucille Fink creates slightly bizarre, densely drawn spaces. Signed, titled, and numbered '19,' in pencil. Annotated on the reverse, "June, 1932, week of 6-10-32, last wk of school."...
    Category

    Early 20th Century American Modern Figurative Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph

Recently Viewed

View All