Ben Shahn

(American, 1898–1969)

Ben Shahn was a Lithuanian-born American artist and member of the Social Realist movement. His expressive figurative paintings, murals, and posters were inexorably tied to his pursuit of social justice and lifelong activism within leftist political beliefs. Shahn unflinchingly critiqued the government and society, as seen in his The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti (1931–1932), a painting which condemned the controversial conviction of two Italian-American immigrants who were sentenced to death in 1927. “The artist must operate on the assumption that the public consists in the highest order of individual—that he is civilized, cultured, and highly sensitive both to emotional and intellectual contexts,” he once stated. “And while the whole public most certainly does not consist in that sort of individual, still the tendency of art is to create such a public—to lift the level of perceptivity, to increase and enrich the average individual's store of values.” Born on September 12, 1898 in Kaunas, Lithuania into an Orthodox Jewish family, he and his family emigrated to New York in 1906. Shahn went on to study at the National Academy of Design in New York and traveled throughout Europe during the 1920s. Upon his return to the United States, he assisted Diego Rivera in 1933 for the painting of his Man at the Crossroads fresco in Rockefeller Center. During the latter part of his career, the artist’s paintings became more symbolic of his own emotional state rather than a description of social injustices. He died on March 14, 1969 in New York, NY. Today, Shahn’s works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others.

Ben Shahn Artworks

Ben Shahn (1,821 results)

ALPHABET OF CREATION (PRESCOTT 24), 1957

Ben Shahn

ALPHABET OF CREATION (PRESCOTT 24), 1957

Sale Date: November 11, 2020

Auction Closed

CULTURE CULTURE

Ben Shahn

CULTURE CULTURE

Sale Date: November 14, 2020

Auction Closed

Haggadah

Ben Shahn

Sale Date: October 17, 2020

Auction Closed

Group Lot: 1] Drugstore 2] Rabbi 3] Photographer

Ben Shahn

Group Lot: 1] Drugstore 2] Rabbi 3] Photographer

Sale Date: October 17, 2020

Auction Closed

Lute and Molecule No. 2 (Prescott 30), 1958

Ben Shahn

Lute and Molecule No. 2 (Prescott 30), 1958

Sale Date: October 24, 2020

Auction Closed

街の上の鳥たちBirds on Town

Ben Shahn

街の上の鳥たちBirds on Town

Sale Date: October 10, 2020

Auction Closed

Resettlement Administration Client Family,..., 1935

Ben Shahn

Resettlement Administration Client Family,..., 1935

Sale Date: October 6, 2020

Auction Closed

A Group of Five Photographs (5 works), 1935–1938

Ben Shahn

A Group of Five Photographs (5 works), 1935–1938

Sale Date: September 9, 2020

Auction Closed

Morning by the Sea (Rilke Portfolio, 1968

Ben Shahn

Morning by the Sea (Rilke Portfolio, 1968

Sale Date: August 29, 2020

Auction Closed

Study for Ecclesiastes, 1965

Ben Shahn

Study for Ecclesiastes, 1965

Sale Date: September 17, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled (Face)

Ben Shahn

Untitled (Face)

Sale Date: July 25, 2020

Auction Closed

Lincoln Center / Philharmonic Hall., 1962

Ben Shahn

Lincoln Center / Philharmonic Hall., 1962

Sale Date: July 21, 2020

Auction Closed

A Good Man is Hard to Find (Truman and Dewey), 1948

Ben Shahn

A Good Man is Hard to Find (Truman and Dewey), 1948

Sale Date: July 16, 2020

Auction Closed

(1) THIS IS NAZI BRUTALITY (2) A..., 1942

Ben Shahn

(1) THIS IS NAZI BRUTALITY (2) A..., 1942

Sale Date: July 18, 2020

Auction Closed

MALE PORTRAIT, 1920

Ben Shahn

MALE PORTRAIT, 1920

Sale Date: July 18, 2020

Auction Closed

Portrait of J. B. Neuman, 1926

Ben Shahn

Portrait of J. B. Neuman, 1926

Sale Date: June 23, 2020

Auction Closed

STOP H BOMB TESTS. 1960.; STOP H BOMB TESTS. , 1960

Ben Shahn

STOP H BOMB TESTS. 1960.; STOP H BOMB TESTS. , 1960

Sale Date: June 18, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1948

Ben Shahn

Untitled, 1948

Sale Date: June 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Waiting outside clinic, City Hospital, 1937

Ben Shahn

Waiting outside clinic, City Hospital, 1937

Sale Date: June 11, 2020

Auction Closed

Interior of Negro Tenant Farmer's Home,..., 1935

Ben Shahn

Interior of Negro Tenant Farmer's Home,..., 1935

Sale Date: June 11, 2020

Auction Closed

To Roads in Unknown Regions from the Rilke..., 1968

Ben Shahn

To Roads in Unknown Regions from the Rilke..., 1968

Sale Date: May 10, 2020

Auction Closed

Sunday Morning in Linworth, Ohio, 1938

Ben Shahn

Sunday Morning in Linworth, Ohio, 1938

Sale Date: May 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Side Show at the Ashville, Ohio July 4th..., 1938

Ben Shahn

Side Show at the Ashville, Ohio July 4th..., 1938

Sale Date: May 13, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled (Man with Crown)

Ben Shahn

Untitled (Man with Crown)

Sale Date: April 19, 2020

Auction Closed

Previous 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Next

English (US)

©2024 Artnet Worldwide Corporation. All rights reserved.