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BEN SHAHN (1898-1969), AMERICAN, LISTED

"THE KING AND HIS COURT"

ORIGINAL INK ON PAPER 5" X 7.3"

ORIGINAL MODERN AMERICAN FRAME 11" X 14"

SIGNED LOWER RIGHT CORNER

CONDITION: EXCELLENT ( MUSEUM QUALITY)

ITEM FROM A NEW YORK ESTATE

LISTED IN: WHO WAS WHO IN AMERICAN ART; DAVENPORT'S ART REFERENCE AND PRICE GUIDE; ; ; ETC. (and over 200 other major art reference books)

A STUNNING WORK BY THIS AMERICAN MODERNIST ARTIST

Ben Shahn (1898-1969) was a very important American artist in the social-realism movement (see biography below). This particular work is one of a collection of three works by Shahn from a private collector’s estate. The other two works are much larger oils and will be on my website. This ink drawing seems to be depicting a king and his court, and, it is in great condition with the original frame. The piece is probably 1940’s or 1950’s. Shahn was a prolific artist during his life and was continually drawing and painting until his death. It is signed lower right corner. Auction record go to $260,000 for larger more important works, but, this drawing is being sold at a modest reserve. This elegant drawing would go nice in any décor. It would make a wonderful addition to any fine art collection in a home or office. The painting is much nicer in real life than the images show. All items are professionally packaged using very costly materials to ensure safe arrival. No expense is spared when packaging and shipping this painting USPS Priority mail. This will be the best packaged item you will ever receive from eBay, so, please don't worry about any possible damage. Good bidding.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: (from various sources)

BEN SHAHN (1898-1969), American (painter, teacher, graphic artist, and photographer)

A painter, teacher, graphic artist, and photographer, Ben Shahn was devoted to the figurative tradition and was one of the more significant social critics among painters of the 20th century.

He was born in Kaunus, Lithuania on September 12, 1898, and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1906. From the ages of 15 to 18, Shahn was apprenticed to a New York lithographer. In 1919, he enrolled at New York University, completing his studies at the City College of New York in 1924. After 2 years studying at the National Academy of Design, Shahn traveled in Europe and North Africa. Returning to America, he had his first one-man show in 1929.

Shahn's mature style and his emphasis on specific social themes date from the 1930s. His art was influenced by photographer Walker Evans, with whom he shared quarters. In 1931-1932, Shahn painted 23 gouaches and 2 mural panels based on the Sacco and Vanzetti case. The best known is the Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, executed in tempera, with elongated bodies and slight caricature of the faces, the work is a masterpiece of understatement. This style remains consistent throughout his work. Fifteen gouache studies (1932-1933) dealing with labor leader Tom Mooney aroused the interest of Mexican mural painter Diego Rivera, and Shahn became Rivera's assistant on the murals for the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center, New York City.

In the eight paintings on the theme of prohibition for the Public Works Arts Project, Shahn used techniques learned from Rivera in murals and panel paintings commissioned by numerous Federal agencies. The one titled W.C.T.U. Parade (1933-1934) is best known. His mural for the Community Center of the Federal Housing Development in Roosevelt, N.J. (1937-1938), is the most typical. Shahn's themes reflected a variety of topical problems from anti-semitism to unfair labor conditions. He framed them into a continuous wall plane that is subdivided by architectural devices. Though he borrowed the organizing motifs from Rivera, Shahn's murals are regarded as generally more readable and less crowded. Not as well known are his photographs for the Farm Security Administration. A typical photograph is the one titled Arkansas Share Cropper's Family.

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