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)

Untitled, 1968

Ben Shahn

Untitled, 1968

Sale Date: January 12, 2013

Auction Closed

Frederick Douglass suite - Four from the series

Ben Shahn

Frederick Douglass suite - Four from the series

Sale Date: December 8, 2012

Auction Closed

Vandenberg, Dewey and Taft, 1941

Ben Shahn

Vandenberg, Dewey and Taft, 1941

Sale Date: November 29, 2012

Auction Closed

To days of childhood, 1968

Ben Shahn

To days of childhood, 1968

Sale Date: November 18, 2012

Auction Closed

Portrait of Jean-Paul Sartre, 1965

Ben Shahn

Portrait of Jean-Paul Sartre, 1965

Sale Date: November 28, 2012

Auction Closed

For the Sake of A Single Verse by Rainer..., 1968

Ben Shahn

For the Sake of A Single Verse by Rainer..., 1968

Sale Date: November 17, 2012

Auction Closed

A Nurse Giving Aid (+ A pencil study on paper,...

Ben Shahn

A Nurse Giving Aid (+ A pencil study on paper,...

Sale Date: November 15, 2012

Auction Closed

Seated Woman with a Shawl and Book, 1963

Ben Shahn

Seated Woman with a Shawl and Book, 1963

Sale Date: November 15, 2012

Auction Closed

Paris Review, 1968

Ben Shahn

Paris Review, 1968

Sale Date: November 8, 2012

Auction Closed

Jewish Museum Retrospective, 1977

Ben Shahn

Jewish Museum Retrospective, 1977

Sale Date: November 8, 2012

Auction Closed

Birds over the city (Atelier Mourlot), 1968

Ben Shahn

Birds over the city (Atelier Mourlot), 1968

Sale Date: November 8, 2012

Auction Closed

Owl No. 1, 1968

Ben Shahn

Owl No. 1, 1968

Sale Date: November 8, 2012

Auction Closed

Birds over the city, 1968

Ben Shahn

Birds over the city, 1968

Sale Date: November 5, 2012

Auction Closed

Blind Botanist

Ben Shahn

Blind Botanist

Sale Date: October 6, 2012

Auction Closed

A man

Ben Shahn

Sale Date: October 6, 2012

Auction Closed

Phoenix and Sea itself (2 works), 1968

Ben Shahn

Phoenix and Sea itself (2 works), 1968

Sale Date: October 6, 2012

Auction Closed

Portrait de femme au renard

Ben Shahn

Portrait de femme au renard

Sale Date: October 15, 2012

Auction Closed

Death on the Beach, 1945

Ben Shahn

Death on the Beach, 1945

Sale Date: September 28, 2012

Auction Closed

Double Self Portrait in Truro, 1932

Ben Shahn

Double Self Portrait in Truro, 1932

Sale Date: September 25, 2012

Auction Closed

Landscape with Sailboat, 1924

Ben Shahn

Landscape with Sailboat, 1924

Sale Date: September 25, 2012

Auction Closed

Nine Drawings (portfolio of 9), 1965

Ben Shahn

Nine Drawings (portfolio of 9), 1965

Sale Date: September 20, 2012

Auction Closed

Of light, white sleeping women in childbed..., 1968

Ben Shahn

Of light, white sleeping women in childbed..., 1968

Sale Date: September 8, 2012

Auction Closed

To parents one had to hurt and Screams of..., 1968

Ben Shahn

To parents one had to hurt and Screams of..., 1968

Sale Date: September 8, 2012

Auction Closed

Many men (from Rilke Portfolio), 1968

Ben Shahn

Many men (from Rilke Portfolio), 1968

Sale Date: September 8, 2012

Auction Closed

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