24 Facts About Ben Shahn

Ben Shahn is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as The Shape of Content.

Ben Shahn's father was exiled to Siberia for possible revolutionary activities in 1902, at which point Shahn, his mother, and two younger siblings moved to Vilkomir.

Ben Shahn began his path to becoming an artist in New York, where he was first trained as a lithographer.

Ben Shahn was dissatisfied with the work inspired by his travels, claiming that the pieces were unoriginal.

Ben Shahn eventually outgrew his pursuit of European modern art, and redirected his efforts toward a realist style which he used to contribute to social dialogue.

Ben Shahn had a role in fanning the controversy, by circulating a petition among the workers.

Also during this period, Ben Shahn met photojournalist Bernarda Bryson, who would later become his second wife.

Fortunately, in 1935, Ben Shahn was recommended by Walker Evans, a friend and former roommate, to Roy Stryker to join the photographic group at the Resettlement Administration.

Ben Shahn worked for these agencies as a graphic artist and painter.

Ben Shahn did a series, called Lucky Dragon, about the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, the Japanese fishing boat caught in the Bikini Atoll hydrogen bomb blast.

Edward Steichen selected Ben Shahn's work, including his October 1935 photograph The family of a Resettlement Administration client in the doorway of their home, Boone County, Arkansas, for MoMA's world-touring The Family of Man which was seen by 9 million visitors.

Ben Shahn began to act as a commercial artist for CBS, Time, Fortune and Harper's.

Ben Shahn was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the Academia dell' Arte e del Disegno in Florence.

Ben Shahn received honorary doctorates from Princeton University and Harvard University, and joined Harvard as a Charles Eliot Norton professor in 1956.

Ben Shahn's published writings, including The Biography of Painting and The Shape of Content, became influential works in the art world.

Ben Shahn challenged the esoteric pretensions of art, which he believed disconnect artists and their work from the public.

Ben Shahn defended his choice to employ pictorial realities, rather than abstract forms.

Ben Shahn stressed that in art, as in life, the combination of opposing orders is vital for progress.

Ben Shahn used both expressive and precise visual languages, which he united through the consistency of his authoritative line.

Ben Shahn intentionally paired contrasting scales, colors, and images together to create tension.

Ben Shahn often captured figures engrossed in their own worlds.

Ben Shahn's move to the settlement demonstrates his dedication to the project as does his mural's compelling depiction of the town's founding.

Still, the mural maintains a sense of humanity; Ben Shahn gives his figures a monumental quality through volume and scale.

Ben Shahn captured the urgency for activism and reform, by showing gestures and mid-steps and freezing all the subjects in motion.