May 08, 2006 - Sale 2079

Sale 2079 - Lot 181

Price Realized: $ 5,290
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
BEN SHAHN (1898-1969) STOP H BOMB TESTS. Circa 1962.
43 3/8x29 5/8 inches. Graphic Artists for Sane.
Condition B: repaired tears, creases, abrasions and minor stains in margins and image. Numbered in pencil 85 / 128. Framed.
In 1962, Shahn was a founding member of Graphic Artists for SANE (Committee for a SANE nuclear policy). He created this very limited edition serigraph "for a fund raising effort in a campaign advocating control of nuclear bomb tests." (Prescott p. 140) "The frightening devil mask suggests the evil consequences of hydrogen bomb tests. The red 'stop,' overprinted on the black mask, acts as a barrier between the viewer and the mask, visually suggesting that the evil can be averted." (ibid). Prescott 171.