Common Man, Mythic Vision: The Paintings on Ben Shahn
by: Chevlowe, Susan

Softcover. NJ, Princeton University Press, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover exhibition catalog. 194 pages. 32 plates, 32 B&W figures. Pictorial stiff wrapper with very slight wear and soiling to back cover. Frontispiece. Otherwise, a clean, tight copy. Ben Shahn (1898-1969) has long been renowned for his Social Realist paintings of Depression-era America. Equally striking, however, are Shahn's extraordinary later works, which reveal a more introspective style as well as the evolution of a new allegorical and mythical pictorial language. This book combines beautiful reproductions of Shahn's art with essays by leading experts on his life and career to present a groundbreaking survey of his powerful and engaging mature style. The volume is published in conjunction with a major traveling exhibition organized by The Jewish Museum, New York, to commemorate the centenary of Shahn's birth. The book contains more than one hundred illustrations, including thirty-two in color.