Ben Shahn
Ben Shahn (1898-1969) was a prominent American artist known for his compelling and socially conscious artwork. Born in Lithuania and immigrating to the United States as a child, Shahn's experiences as a Jewish immigrant deeply influenced his artistic vision. He gained recognition in the 1930s for his politically charged works, notably "The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti," which highlighted issues of justice and social equity. Throughout his career, Shahn embraced controversy and remained committed to themes of social justice, often utilizing his art as a platform for advocacy.
In addition to painting, he worked in various governmental art projects, including murals for the Social Security Administration, and created iconic posters during World War II. Despite challenges from the rise of abstract expressionism and anti-communist sentiment in the 1950s, Shahn maintained his artistic integrity and continued to produce meaningful work. He also collaborated with notable literary figures and contributed illustrations to significant literary works. Shahn's legacy is marked by his steadfast dedication to his artistic principles and his impact on American art, characterized by a blend of accessibility and deep commitment to social issues.
Subject Terms
Ben Shahn
- Born: September 12, 1898
- Birthplace: Kovno, Russian Empire (now Kaunas, Lithuania)
- Died: March 14, 1969
- Place of death: New York, New York
Lithuanian-born artist
As a leading artist of the social realism school, Shahn encouraged artists to cast a critical look at social ills in their creative expressions.
Areas of achievement: Activism; art
Early Life
Ben Shahn was born in 1898 to Hessel and Gittel Shahn. At age eight, Shahn arrived in the United States and, like many Jewish immigrant children of that era, quickly adjusted to the American way of life. His father suffered repeated financial setbacks, and Shahn was required to quit high school and go to work, which created extreme tension within his family. He worked in a lithography shop, where he developed a fascination with lettering and alphabets.
Shahn married Tillie Goldstein in August, 1922, and slowly he began to achieve credibility as a New York artist. In 1927, his artwork was included in juried shows, and, starting in 1930, he sold works in the high-profile Downtown Gallery operated by Edith Halpert. His first artwork to receive extensive publicity, along with a degree of notoriety, was a series of paintings titled The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti in 1932. The trial of Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian immigrants and anarchists accused of murdering two men during a robbery, had consumed the American left wing in the 1920’s, and Shahn portrayed Sacco and Vanzetti as martyrs and victims of an American legal system dominated by the monied plutocracy. Instead of backing down from controversy, Shahn genuinely relished it, an attitude that would be true of his entire career.
Life’s Work
During the 1930’s, Shahn became a federal employee, beginning with his work for the Resettlement Administration, which helped struggling families to relocate to planned communities. He left his wife and children for Bernanda Berenson, who would become his life companion. The photographs he took during the 1930’s are regarded as classics, and they also figured into some of his paintings and drawings over the years. In 1940, he was chosen to paint a large mural for the Social Security Administration Building. The mural took two years to complete, and it became one of the most detailed expressions of the progressive activist ideals of Shahn.
In 1942, Shahn got a new government job in the art division of the Office of War Information. His posters became classics of advocacy art, but he chafed at the many restrictions placed on his choice of subjects. As a result, he went to work in 1944 for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), a trade union organization that faced vilification from right-wing critics based on allegations of Communist influence. The posters and pamphlet illustrations produced by Shahn were visual exhortations for American workers to vote for political candidates who would continue New Deal programs and defend the gains organized labor had made since 1935. The disastrous congressional elections of 1946 resulted in cutbacks in CIO staff, and Shahn found himself out of a job.
By 1946, Shahn was an established artist, and he made a comfortable living from gallery sales and commissions until his death. He lived in Roosevelt, New Jersey, a town near Trenton, which provided a home base close to New York City at a fraction of the cost of living in the metropolis. His corporate clients included the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), Fortune magazine, and the N. W. Ayer advertising agency.
Two different trends presented challenges to Shahn during the 1950’s. One was the rapid rise of abstract expressionism, an art style that was the exact opposite of everything that Shahn espoused. Shahn dismissed abstract expressionism as nothing more than “petulant squirts,” but the art world showered adulation on the new genre and its practitioners. In a world in which political controversy was dangerous, abstract expressionism thrived, based on the claim that it was free of foreign influence and leftist messages. The other threat to Shahn was anti-Communist Party campaigns that dominated American politics at the time. The attacks on Shahn were two-pronged: assailing modern art as being un-American by nature and decrying his support for organizations labeled as Communist fronts during the 1930’s. Shahn remained unapologetic about his record, and his statements became memorable for his consistent proclamation of his love of democracy and the common people who benefited from it.
The 1950’s saw Shahn collaborate with two literary figures. He provided illustrations for The Sorrows of Priapus (1957), by Edward Dahlberg, and Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (1956), by John Berryman. The first collaboration was stormy and the resulting art was unimpressive. Working with Berryman was a better fit for Shahn, and the artwork that resulted was regarded as high quality. Other works included his Alphabet of Creation (1954) and an illustrated Ecclesiastes (1965). Both works encountered criticism from traditional Jews, who faulted Shahn for his shaky grasp of Jewish tradition.
Shahn continued to lecture, travel, and exhibit during the 1960’s as health issues prompted him to slow down. His disputes with Trianon Press and Edith Halpert at the Downtown Gallery consumed much of his energy. His final foray into political art was the Lucky Dragon series he undertook between 1960 and 1962. Shahn intended to produce a powerful statement about the hazards of thermonuclear testing, but Lucky Dragon lacked the punch of his earlier works. On advice from his financial consultant, he married Berenson in November, 1967, and he died from a heart attack in New York City on March 14, 1969.
Significance
Throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s, Shahn produced art that was powerful, passionate, accessible, and exhibited a timeless quality that rose above the sectarian outlook that dated so much of the work of progressive artists of the period. Shahn will be remembered and celebrated for his lifetime commitment to artistic integrity. His passion for social justice was equally impressive. In an era when American art and artists succumbed to clever trendiness, Shahn remained true to his lifelong artistic vision.
Bibliography
Greenfield, Howard. Ben Shahn. New York: Random House, 1998. A sweeping biography that does not shy away from Shahn’s many personal shortcomings but maintains an admiring tone.
Shahn, Ben. The Shaper of Content. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1957. This collection of lectures given at Harvard is a forceful and entertaining exposition of Shahn’s credo.
Weiss, Margaret, ed. Ben Shahn, Photographer. New York: Da Capo Press, 1973. A handsome edition of the photographs Shahn took in the 1930’s.