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)

Selected Resettlement Administration images..., 1935

Ben Shahn

Selected Resettlement Administration images..., 1935

Sale Date: April 27, 2005

Auction Closed

Portrait

Ben Shahn

Sale Date: April 7, 2005

Auction Closed

Still life with grapes

Ben Shahn

Still life with grapes

Sale Date: March 23, 2005

Auction Closed

Interior, 1956

Ben Shahn

Interior, 1956

Sale Date: March 23, 2005

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Bathers, 1931

Ben Shahn

Bathers, 1931

Sale Date: March 23, 2005

Auction Closed

Fireplace

Ben Shahn

Sale Date: March 23, 2005

Auction Closed

Baseball (collab. w/Stefan Martin), 1968

Ben Shahn

Baseball (collab. w/Stefan Martin), 1968

Sale Date: March 10, 2005

Auction Closed

Martin Luther King (collab. w/Stefan Martin), 1966

Ben Shahn

Martin Luther King (collab. w/Stefan Martin), 1966

Sale Date: March 10, 2005

Auction Closed

For the sake of a single verse (portfolio of , 1968

Ben Shahn

For the sake of a single verse (portfolio of , 1968

Sale Date: March 10, 2005

Auction Closed

Birds over the city, 1968

Ben Shahn

Birds over the city, 1968

Sale Date: March 10, 2005

Auction Closed

Ecclesiastes, 1966

Ben Shahn

Ecclesiastes, 1966

Sale Date: March 10, 2005

Auction Closed

Credo, 1966

Ben Shahn

Sale Date: March 10, 2005

Auction Closed

Alphabet of creation, 1957

Ben Shahn

Alphabet of creation, 1957

Sale Date: March 10, 2005

Auction Closed

Untitled (Bethune Street, Greenwich..., 1930–1939

Ben Shahn

Untitled (Bethune Street, Greenwich..., 1930–1939

Sale Date: February 14, 2005

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Uomo alla batteria

Ben Shahn

Uomo alla batteria

Sale Date: November 2, 2004

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Walking soldier, facing left (+ 15 others; 16...

Ben Shahn

Walking soldier, facing left (+ 15 others; 16...

Sale Date: January 13, 2005

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Man speaking on telephone (+ 14 others; 15...

Ben Shahn

Man speaking on telephone (+ 14 others; 15...

Sale Date: January 13, 2005

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Study of arm (+ 11 others, 2 brush and..., 1920–1929

Ben Shahn

Study of arm (+ 11 others, 2 brush and..., 1920–1929

Sale Date: January 13, 2005

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Man with hands under chin (+ 6 others, 1...

Ben Shahn

Man with hands under chin (+ 6 others, 1...

Sale Date: January 13, 2005

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Seated man having lunch (+ 6 others; 7 illus....

Ben Shahn

Seated man having lunch (+ 6 others; 7 illus....

Sale Date: January 13, 2005

Auction Closed

Study of Nixon (+ 4 others, 2 dated, ca.1951 &...

Ben Shahn

Study of Nixon (+ 4 others, 2 dated, ca.1951 &...

Sale Date: January 13, 2005

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Seated nude study (+ 3 others, 1929 & 1933;..., 1925

Ben Shahn

Seated nude study (+ 3 others, 1929 & 1933;..., 1925

Sale Date: January 13, 2005

Auction Closed

Seated figure (+ 3 others; 4 works, various..., 1930

Ben Shahn

Seated figure (+ 3 others; 4 works, various..., 1930

Sale Date: January 13, 2005

Auction Closed

Was it for this the day grew tall? (+ 2..., 1965

Ben Shahn

Was it for this the day grew tall? (+ 2..., 1965

Sale Date: January 13, 2005

Auction Closed

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