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Alphabet of Creation
Ben Shahn
1957
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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.
Shahn frequently based his paintings on his own photographs. East Side Soap Box is based on a photo of Jewish workers protesting in Madison Square Park in Manhattan. The Yiddish sign reads: “Nature…
The great value of prayer is well known. It is formulated in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings, and explained further in the words of our rabbis of blessed memory. It is called the service of…
Marc Chagall’s newspaper vendor, whose pouch holds both Yiddish and Russian newspapers, looks worried. The sky is an alarming red, and the news is not good. The first world war has begun. Chagall…