Feb 16, 2023 - Sale 2626

Sale 2626 - Lot 74

Price Realized: $ 1,125
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 700 - $ 900

BEN SHAHN (1898-1969)


Untitled, (Portrait of Barry Oppenheim).
Oil on tin, 1933. 508x330 mm; 20x13 inches.

During the Great Depression, Shahn was commissioned by the WPA to create murals and worked with the RA to design posters and pamphlets, but he was also hired as a part-time staff photographer for the FSA, due to a recommendation from Walker Evans. (Shahn's entrée to photography was a studio space shared with Evans in 1929.) Shahn traveled across rural America photographing the plight of the communities there and capturing the strength of will of their residents.