Photos: Ben Shahn - Part 1 - Arkansas - During the Great Depression - Bio data - Links

Posted by Ricardo Marcenaro | Posted in | Posted on 10:04



Ben Shahn - A destitute family, Ozark Mountains area, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Blind street musician, West Memphis, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Colored mother and child, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Community canning, Dyess Colony, Arkansas, 1935

Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 1969) was a Lithuanian-born American artist. He 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.


Biography

Shahn was born in Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania, then occupied by the Russian Empire, to Jewish parents Joshua Hessel and Gittel (Lieberman) Shahn. His father was exiled to Siberia for possible revolutionary activities in 1902, at which point Shahn, his mother, and two younger siblings moved to Vilkomir (Ukmergė). In 1906, the family immigrated to the United States where they rejoined Hessel, who had fled Siberia. They settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, where two more siblings were born. His younger brother drowned at age 17.[1] Shahn began his path to becoming an artist in New York, where he was first trained as a lithographer. Shahn's early experiences with lithography and graphic design is apparent in his later prints and paintings which often include the combination of text and image. Shahn's primary medium was egg tempera, popular among social realists.

Although Shahn attended New York University as a biology student in 1919, he went on to pursue art at City College in 1921 and then at the National Academy of Design. After his marriage to Tillie Goldstein in 1924, the two traveled through North Africa and then to Europe, where he made "the traditional artist pilgrimage."[2] There he studied great European artists such as Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy, Georges Rouault, Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee. Contemporaries who would make a profound impact on Shahn's work and career include artists Walker Evans, Diego Rivera and Jean Charlot.[2]

Shahn was dissatisfied with the work inspired by his travels, claiming that the pieces were unoriginal.[2] Shahn eventually outgrew his pursuit of European modern art; he, instead, redirected his efforts toward a realist style which he used to contribute to social dialogue.[3]

The twenty-three gouache paintings of the trials of Sacco and Vanzetti communicated the political concerns of his time, rejecting academic prescriptions for subject matter. The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti was exhibited in 1932 and received acclaim from both the public and critics. This series gave Shahn the confidence to cultivate his personal style, regardless of society’s art standards.[4]

Work during the Great Depression

Shahn's subsequent series of California labor leader Tom Mooney won him the recognition of Diego Rivera.[2] In May and June 1933, he served as an assistant to Diego Rivera while Rivera executed the Rockefeller Center mural. Shahn had a role in fanning the controversy, by circulating a petition among the workers. Also during this period, Shahn met photojournalist Bernarda Bryson, who would later become his second wife. Although this marriage was successful, the mural, his 1934 project for the Public Works of Art Projects and proposal for the Municipal Art Commission were all failures.[2] Fortunately, in 1935, Shahn was recommended by Walker Evans, a friend and former roommate, to Roy Stryker to join the photographic group at the Farm Security Administration (FSA). As a member of the FSA group, Shahn roamed and documented the American south together with his colleagues Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange. Like his earlier photography of New York City, Shahn’s FSA work can be viewed as social-documentary.[3] Similarly, Shahn’s New Deal art for the FSA and Resettlement Agency exposed American living and working conditions. He also worked for these agencies as a graphic artist and painter. Shahn’s fresco mural for the community center of Jersey Homesteads is among his most famous works, but the government also hired Shahn to execute the Bronx Central Annex Post Office and Social Security murals.[2] In 1939, Shahn and his wife produced a set of 13 murals inspired by Walt Whitman's poem I See America Working and installed at the United States Post Office-Bronx Central Annex.[5] Curator Susan Edwards recognizes the influence of this art on the public consciousness, writing, "The Roosevelt administration believed [such] images were useful for persuading not only voters but members of Congress to support federal relief and recovery programs… The art he made for the federal government affirms both his own legacy and that of the New Deal."[6]


More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Shahn
 
Ben Shahn - Cotton pickers at 6-30 a.m., Alexander plantation, Pulaski County, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Cotton pickers ready for day's work, 6-30 a.m., Pulaski County, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Inhabitants of Marked Tree, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Ozark children, Arkansas, 1935

Ben Shahn (Kaunas, Lituania 12 de septiembre, 1898 – 14 de marzo, 1969) fue un pintor, ilustrador, artista gráfico, fotógrafo y escritor nacido en Lituania que desarrolló su carrera en Estados Unidos. Es conocido por sus obras de realismo social, sus puntos de vista políticos de izquierda, y sus disertaciones publicadas en The Shape of Content.

Biografía

Shahn nació en Lituania, mientras era ocupada por el Imperio Ruso, en el seno de una familia judía, sus padres eran Joshua Hessel y Gittel (Lieberman) Shahn. En 1902 su padre fue exiliado a Siberia por sospechas de actividades revolucionarias, y Shahn, con su madre y sus dos hermanos más jóvenes se mudaron a Vilkomir (Ukmergė). En 1906, la familia emigra a Estados Unidos donde se encuentran con Hessel, que había escapado de Siberia. Se establecen en el barrio de Williamsburg en Brooklyn, Nueva York donde nacen otros dos hermanos. Uno de sus hermanos más jóvenes muere ahogado a los 17 años.1 Shahn comienza su trayectoria para convertirse en un artista en Nueva York, donde inicialmente es aprendiz de litógrafo. Estas primeras experiencia de Shahn con la litografía y el diseño gráfico se observa en sus impresiones y pinturas posteriores que a menudo incluyen combinaciones de texto e imagen. Shahn para expresarse utiliza principalmente tempera al huevo, lo que era popular entre los realistas sociales.

Si bien Shahn cursa en 1919 estudios de biología en la New York University, en 1921 se decide por el arte estudiando en el City College y luego en la National Academy of Design. Luego de contraer matrimonio en 1924 con Tillie Goldstein, los dos viajan al Norte de África y luego a Europa, donde realiza el "peregrinaje tradicional de los artistas."2 Allí estudia a los grandes artistas europeos tales como Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy, Georges Rouault, Pablo Picasso y Paul Klee. Entre los contemporáneos que van a tener un gran impacto en la obra y carrera de Shahn se encuentran Walker Evans, Diego Rivera y Jean Charlot.2

Shahn no estaba satisfecho con las obras que estaban inspiradas en sus viajes, alegando que sus obras carecían de originalidad.2 Shahn eventualmente supero su búsqueda del arte moderno europeo; en cambio enfoca sus esfuerzos hacia el estilo realista que utiliza para contribuir al diálogo social.3

Las 23 pinturas gouache de los juicios a Sacco y Vanzetti expresan las preocupaciones políticas de su época, rechazando las recetas académicas. The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti (La pasión de Sacco y Vanzetti) se expuso en 1932 y fue muy elogiada por los críticos y el público. Estas series le dieron a Shahn confianza para desarrollar su estilo personal, sin importancia de los estándares artísticos de la sociedad.4


Obras durante la Gran Depresión

La serie de trabajos que Shahn realiza a continuación sobre el líder trabajador de California Tom Mooney le granjeó el reconocimiento de Diego Rivera.2 En mayo y junio de 1933, fue ayudante de Diego Rivera mientras Rivera trabajaba en el infame mural del Rockefeller Center. Shahn tuvo un rol en promover la controversia, al hacer circular una petición entre los trabajadores. También durante este período, Shahn conoce a la reportera Bernarda Bryson, quien posteriormente se convierte en su segunda esposa. Si bien su casamiento fue un éxito, el mural, su proyecto de 1934 para el Public Works of Art Projects y la propuesta para la Comisión Municipal de Arte todos fracasaron.2 Por suerte, en 1935, Shahn fue recomendado por Walker Evans, amigo y antiguo compañero de habitación, a Roy Stryker para unirse al grupo de fotógrafos en la Farm Security Administration (FSA). Como miembro del grupo FSA, Shahn viajó y fotografio el sur norteamericano junto con sus colegas Walker Evans y Dorothea Lange. En forma similar a sus fotografías anteriores de la ciudad de Nueva york, la obra de Shahn para el FSA puede ser considerada del tipo de documental social.3 Similarly, Shahn’s New Deal art for the FSA and Resettlement Agency expone el modo de vida y las condiciones de trabajo en Estados Unidos. También trabajó para estas agencias como artista gráfico y pintor. El mural al fresco de Shahn para el centro comunitario de Jersey Homesteads es una de sus obras más famosas, pero el gobierno también contrata a Shahn para realizar los murales del Anexo de la Oficina Postal Central de Bronx y la Seguridad Social.2 En 1939, Shahn y su esposa producen un conjunto de 13 murales inspirados en el poema de Walt Whitman's I See America Working (Veo a Norteamérica trabajar y los instalan en la Oficina de Correos de Estados Unidos en el Anexo Central del Bronx.5 La curadora de arte Susan Edwards reconoce esta influencia de su arte en la consciencia del público, y escribe al respecto, "La administración Roosevelt está convencida que este tipo de imágenes son utiles para persuadir no solo a los votantes sino también a los miembros del Congreso de apoyar los programas federales de ayuda y recuperación… El arte que él produjo para el gobierno federal afirma a la vez su propio legado y el del New Deal."6

Obras

    Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco Their Guards,1932, Collection of Miss Patricia Healey Yale University
    The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, 1931–3, Whitney Museum
    Untitled (Houston Street Playground, New York City), 1932, Fogg Art Museum

    W.C.T.U Parade, 1933-4, Museum of the City of New York

    Jersey Homesteads Mural, 1937-38, Community Center of the Federal Housing Development, Roosevelt, New Jersey

    Still Music, 1938, Philips Collection, Washington DC

    Handball, 1939, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Fund) [1]
    The Meaning of Social Mural, 1940-2, Federal Security Building, Washington, DC

    For Full Employment after the War, Register-Vote, 1944, The Museum of Modern Art, New York

    Allegory, 1948, Bill Bomar Collection at The Modern
    Age of Anxiety, 1953, The Joseph H. Hirschhorn Foundation, Inc.

Exhibiciones

    “Ben Shahn: Paintings and Drawings,” 1930, Edith Halpert's Downtown Gallery in New York, New York
    “57th Annual American Exhibition: Water Colors and Drawings,” 1946, Tate Gallery in London, England
    “Ben Shahn: A Retrospective,” 1947, Museum of Modern Art in New York, New York
    “Esposizione Biennale internationale D’Arte XXVII,” 1954 in Venice, Italy
    “Ben Shahn,” 1962, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium; Galleria Nazionale D’arte Moderna in Rome, Italy; and Albertina in Vienna, Austria.
    “The Collected Prints of Ben Shahn,” 1969, Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania.
    “Ben Shahn: A Retrospective Exhibition, ” 1969, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey.
    “Ben Shahn's New York: The Photography of Modern Times,” 2000-2001, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Referencias

Berger, Maurice. New York." Jewish Museum (New York), 2004.
Morse, John. Ben Shahn (New York Praeger Publishers Inc, 1972)
Kao, Deborah. Ben Shahn's New York: The Photographs of Modern Times." Harvard University Art Museums, February 2000.
Prescott, Kenneth. The Complete Graphic Works of Ben Shahn. New York: Quadrangle, 1973.
Donald J. Framberger, Joan R. Olshansky, and Elizabeth Spencer-Ralph (septiembre de 1979). «National Register of Historic Places Registration: Bronx Central Annex-U.S. Post Office». New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Consultado el 1 de octubre de 2010.

    Edwards, Susan. "Ben Shahn's New Deal: The Resettlement Administration (RA) and the Farm Security Administration (FSA)." Harvard University Art Museums, September 1999..

Bibliografía

    The Art Directors Club “1988 Fall of Fame: Ben Shahn.” 2007, 18 Mar. 2008 .
    Ben Shahn: Passion for Justice, PBS, 2002, 18 Mar. <2008http: artsculture="" shahn="" www.njn.net="">.
    Chevlowe, Susan. Common Man Mythic Vision: The Paintings of Ben Shahn. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.
    Edwards, Susan. “Ben Shahn's New Deal: The Resettlement Administration (RA) and the Farm Security Administration (FSA)”. Harvard University Art Museums, Sept, 1999,
    Morse, John. Ben Shahn. New York: Praeger Publishers Inc, 1972.
    Pohl, Frances.Ben Shanh.Chesterfield:Chameleon Books Inc, 1993.
    Prescott, Kenneth. The Complete Graphic Works of Ben Shahn. New York: Quadrangle, 1973.
    Shahn, Ben. The Biography of Painting. New York: Paragraphic Books, 1966.
    Shahn, Ben. The Shape of Content. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957.
    Soby, James. Ben Shahn Paintings. New York: George Braziller Inc., 1963.
    James Thrall Soby, Ben Shahn His Graphic Art (1957)
    Soby, James. The Penguin Modern Painters: Ben Shahn. West Drayton: Penguin Books Limited, 1947.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Shahn
 
Ben Shahn - Picking cotton on Alexander plantation, Pulaski County, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Sharecropper's child, Pulaski County, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Sharecroppers in Marked Tree, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Sharecroppers' children on Sunday, near Little Rock, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Washing facilities in the Ozarks, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Wife and child of sharecropper, Arkansas, 1935

 
Ben Shahn - Wife of sharecropper, Pulaski County, Arkansas, 1935






Photos: Ben Shahn - Part 1 - Arkansas - During the Great Depression - Bio data - Links





Ricardo M Marcenaro - Facebook

Blogs of The Solitary Dog:
Solitary Dog Sculptor:
http://byricardomarcenaro.blogspot.com
Solitary Dog Sculptor I:
http://byricardomarcenaroi.blogspot.com

Para:
comunicarse conmigo:
marcenaroescultor@gmail.com
For:
contact me:
marcenaroescultor@gmail.com


My blogs are an open house to all cultures, religions and countries. Be a follower if you like it, with this action you are building a new culture of tolerance, open mind and heart for peace, love and human respect.

Thanks :)

Mis blogs son una casa abierta a todas las culturas, religiones y países. Se un seguidor si quieres, con esta acción usted está construyendo una nueva cultura de la tolerancia, la mente y el corazón abiertos para la paz, el amor y el respeto humano.

Gracias :)






Comments (0)

Publicar un comentario