Alphabet of Creation
Ben Shahn
1957
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Creator Bio
Ben Shahn
1898–1969
The painter and graphic artist Ben Shahn was born in Kovno (Kaunas, Lithuania) and, in 1909, came to New York City, where he received formal training in art. From the late 1920s until about 1950, he worked in a social realist tradition, attacking injustice, prejudice, and brutality. During the Great Depression, he was employed as a photographer by the Farm Security Administration to document the unemployed and the poor, government homestead projects, and rural, small-town life. After 1950, his work became more allegorical and symbolic, and he turned increasingly to producing illustrated Hebrew texts.
Related Guide
Visual and Material Culture in the Mid-Twentieth Century
1939–1973
Jewish visual art flourished and diversified in the postwar period, reflecting the social and political transformations taking place in the world.
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New York, United States of America
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