Ben Shahn, New York, Tempera on paper mounted on canvas and panel, 1947
Artist/Maker:
Ben Shahn
Bio:
American, b. Lithuania, 1898-1969
Title:
New York
Date:
1947
Medium:
Tempera on paper mounted on canvas and panel
Dimensions:
35 15/16 × 47 15/16 in. (91.3 × 121.8 cm)
Credit Line:
Purchase: Oscar and Regina Gruss Charitable and Educational Foundation Fund
Accession Number:
1996-23
Copyright:
Art © Estate of Ben Shahn/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

On View

In this enigmatic post-war work, Ben Shahn juxtaposes disparate images that represent an immigrant’s view of New York. The composition of New York is based on a photograph Ben Shahn took in 1936 of a Lower East Side fish market, with the image of a fish peddler and scale. In the painting, Shahn replaced the carp that appeared on the shop's window with a pike, which now seems to float incongruously in the center of the composition. Below lies a young boy wearing swim trunks, an image also borrowed from an earlier photograph and perhaps a reference to Shahn's younger brother who drowned at the age of seventeen. This nostalgic and dreamlike composition presents a collage of images from Shahn's past.

Information may change as a result of ongoing research.

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