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)
Memories of Many Nights of Love from the..., 1968

Ben Shahn

Memories of Many Nights of Love from the..., 1968

Sale Date: April 26, 2020

Auction Closed

The Gestures of the Little Flowers, 1968

Ben Shahn

The Gestures of the Little Flowers, 1968

Sale Date: April 19, 2020

Auction Closed

Hallelujah

Ben Shahn

Hallelujah

Sale Date: April 19, 2020

Auction Closed

Paris Review, 1968

Ben Shahn

Paris Review, 1968

Sale Date: April 19, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled (Two workers), 1930–1939

Ben Shahn

Untitled (Two workers), 1930–1939

Sale Date: May 12, 2020

Auction Closed

Nude Couple

Ben Shahn

Nude Couple

Sale Date: March 22, 2020

Auction Closed

Pleiades, 1960

Ben Shahn

Pleiades, 1960

Sale Date: March 18, 2020

Auction Closed

Hallelujah, 1970–1971

Ben Shahn

Hallelujah, 1970–1971

Sale Date: March 11, 2020

Auction Closed

Paris Review, 1968

Ben Shahn

Paris Review, 1968

Sale Date: March 11, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled

Ben Shahn

Untitled

Sale Date: March 22, 2020

Auction Closed

Martin Luther King, 1966

Ben Shahn

Martin Luther King, 1966

Sale Date: March 5, 2020

Auction Closed

Immigrant Family, 1941

Ben Shahn

Immigrant Family, 1941

Sale Date: February 22, 2020

Auction Closed

Memories of Many Nights of Love from the..., 1968

Ben Shahn

Memories of Many Nights of Love from the..., 1968

Sale Date: February 5, 2020

Auction Closed

Ben Shahn Abstract Painting of Faces

Ben Shahn

Ben Shahn Abstract Painting of Faces

Sale Date: January 25, 2020

Auction Closed

The Harpie, 1951

Ben Shahn

The Harpie, 1951

Sale Date: December 18, 2019

Auction Closed

Nights of Travel that Flew with the Stars..., 1968

Ben Shahn

Nights of Travel that Flew with the Stars..., 1968

Sale Date: December 11, 2019

Auction Closed

Figures

Ben Shahn

Figures

Sale Date: December 7, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled (Woman)

Ben Shahn

Untitled (Woman)

Sale Date: December 11, 2019

Auction Closed

不死鳥Phoenix

Ben Shahn

不死鳥Phoenix

Sale Date: November 8, 2019

Auction Closed

Hallelujah

Ben Shahn

Hallelujah

Sale Date: October 24, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled (Couple)

Ben Shahn

Untitled (Couple)

Sale Date: October 20, 2019

Auction Closed

Composizione di soggetto ebraico con Mosè e..., 1961

Ben Shahn

Composizione di soggetto ebraico con Mosè e..., 1961

Sale Date: October 2, 2019

Auction Closed

Custom frame with Haggadah, 1966

George Nakashima and Ben Shahn

Custom frame with Haggadah, 1966

Sale Date: October 24, 2019

Auction Closed

Bowery, 1933

Ben Shahn

Bowery, 1933

Sale Date: October 2, 2019

Auction Closed