Ben Shahn Art
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
Wife and child of sharecropper, Arkansas
By Ben Shahn
Located in New York, NY
Wife and child of sharecropper, Arkansas
October, 1935
Stamped “Reproduced for the Library of Congress,” verso
Gelatin silver print
8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Contact gallery...
Category
1930s Ben Shahn Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
A destitute family, Ozark Mountains area
By Ben Shahn
Located in New York, NY
A destitute family, Ozark Mountains area
1935
Stamped “Reproduced for the Library of Congress,” verso
Gelatin silver print
8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Contact gallery for pric...
Category
1930s Modern Ben Shahn Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Sideshow, county fair, central Ohio
By Ben Shahn
Located in New York, NY
Sideshow, county fair, central Ohio
1938
Stamped, “Reproduced for the Library of Congress,” verso
Gelatin silver print
8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
C...
Category
1930s Ben Shahn Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Of light, white, sleeping women in childbed - For the Sake of A Single Verse
By Ben Shahn
Located in Kansas City, MO
Ben Shahn
From Portfolio "For the Sake of A Single Verse by Rainer Maria Rilke"
Year: 1968
Lithograph on Richard de Bas hand-made paper
...
Category
1960s Modern Ben Shahn Art
Materials
Lithograph
Screams of women in labor - For the Sake of A Single Verse by Rainer Maria Rilke
By Ben Shahn
Located in Kansas City, MO
Ben Shahn
From Portfolio "For the Sake of A Single Verse by Rainer Maria Rilke"
Year: 1968
Lithograph on Richard de Bas hand-made paper
Edition: 750
Size: 22.5 x 17.75 inches
Signed in the stone
COA included
Publisher: Atelier Mourlot, LTD, New York
Typography: The Spinal Press
Provenance: Private Collection Kansas City, MO
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Ben Shahn:
"I had now long ago found in Rilke the passage that came to mean so much to me. He was a writer about the processes of art who was not telling me what to do, what to think, how to paint. No; he was too engrossed in his own discoveries. He was sharing with me the doubts and the hesitations of art, the probings, the slow emergence of forms. His every line of writing was art, and yet such art was inseparable from its life content. No manifesto could ever tell me more clearly than this one paragraph of Rilke's that art is an emanation from a person; that it is shaped and formed out of the shape and form of that person. In being so acutely personal to him it achieves also a rare universality. Rilke is speaking, (is he not?) to the innermost recesses of the consciousness, an area in which we spend so much of our time and expend so much of our feeling, and yet an area that is so remote from communication with our fellow-beings, an area that is, unhappily, increasingly remote from the reaches of art."
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Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 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 was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire, to Jewish parents Joshua Hessel and Gittel (Lieberman) Shahn. His father was exiled to Siberia for possible revolutionary activities in 1902, at which point Shahn, his mother, and two younger siblings moved to Vilkomir. In 1906, the family immigrated to the United States where they rejoined Hessel, who had fled Siberia. They settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, where two more siblings were born. His younger brother drowned at age 17. 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.
Although Shahn attended New York University as a biology student in 1919, he went on to pursue art at City College in 1921 and then at the National Academy of Design. After his marriage to Tillie Goldstein in 1924, the two traveled through North Africa and then to Europe, where he made "the traditional artist pilgrimage." There he studied great European artists such as Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy, Georges Rouault, Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee. Contemporaries who would make a profound impact on Shahn's work and career include artists Walker Evans, Diego Rivera and Jean Charlot.
Shahn was dissatisfied with the work inspired by his travels, claiming that the pieces were unoriginal. Shahn eventually outgrew his pursuit of European modern art, and redirected his efforts toward a realist style which he used to contribute to social dialogue.
The twenty-three gouache paintings of the trials of Sacco and Vanzetti...
Category
1960s Modern Ben Shahn Art
Materials
Lithograph
For the Sake of A Single Verse by Rainer Maria Rilke
By Ben Shahn
Located in Kansas City, MO
Ben Shahn
For the Sake of A Single Verse by Rainer Maria Rilke
Portfolio of 3 Lithographs on Richard de Bas hand-made paper in Original ...
Category
1960s Modern Ben Shahn Art
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled (The Noyes School of Rhythm)
By Ben Shahn
Located in New York, NY
Vintage gelatin silver print
6 x 9 inches
This photograph is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City.
Category
1930s Other Art Style Ben Shahn Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Ben Shahn art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Ben Shahn art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Ben Shahn in lithograph, screen print, silver gelatin print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Ben Shahn art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Chaim Gross, André Minaux, and Renato Guttuso. Ben Shahn art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $100 and tops out at $40,000, while the average work can sell for $750.
Artists Similar to Ben Shahn
Questions About Ben Shahn Art
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Miner's Wives is a Social realist painting, a piece of art intended to make a statement about society by depicting everyday people. Ben Shahn produced the work in tempera on a panel in 1948. On 1stDibs, find a selection of Ben Shahn art.
- 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.