Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:
Social Realism

Ben Shahn is most closely associated with this movement, due to coming to prominence on the strength of his socially-concious paintings and FSA photography of the Depression Era.

Date and Place of Birth:
September 12, 1898, Kovno, Lithuania

Life:
It's hard to know what to spotlight in this instance. Ben Shahn was passionate about social injustice, and used painting, photography, commercial art, graphic design - and words! (he was that rare artist able to articulate the process of art) - to make his points. He was a Professor of Poetry at Harvard, and was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1959) to defend his "Communist" views. Perhaps he'd not have been too unhappy with, "Best known for telling visual stories."

Important Works:

The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti (series), 1931-32
Jersey Homesteads Mural, 1937-38
Portrait of Myself When Young, 1943
The Red Stairway, 1944
Liberation, 1945
Mask, 1956-57

Date and Place of Death:
March 14, 1969, New York City