This nationally traveling exhibition will address a pivotal but little-examined body of work by Ben Shahn (1898-1969), one of the major American social realist artists of the twentieth century. Focusing on Ben Shahn's 1930s photographs of New York, Ben Shahn's New York will examine the artist's experimentation with and contributions to the emerging field of social documentary practice and his use of photography in his works in other media in the context of the larger social and political climate of the Great Depression.

[Union Square and Fourteenth Street], 14th St. (New York City), 1932–34, Gelatin silver print, Fogg Art Museum, Gift of Bernarda Bryson Shahn, P1970.3122

SEE MORE OF THIS EXHIBITION AT THE BEN SHAHN AT HARVARD SITE

Over 150 works by Shahn will be on display, including the New York photographs as well as many related works in other media, such as ink drawings, easel paintings, major mural studies and ephemera. A fully-illustrated catalogue published by Yale University Press will accompany the exhibition. Ben Shahn's New York is organized by Deborah Martin Kao, Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography, and Laura Katzman, assistant professor of American art and director of Museum Studies at Randolph-Macon Woman's College.

Ben Shahn's New York is supported with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities, dedicated to expanding American understanding of history and culture.

This show is traveling to:

The Phillips Collection
Washington, DC
June 10 - August 27, 2000

The Grey Art Gallery
New York University
New York, NY
November 14, 2000 - January 27, 2001

The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
April 19 - June 10, 2001