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Reviews with images
The man who captured humanity
There don't seem to be many books about Shahn's paintings. James Soby's 1963 monograph is probably the only worthwhile one, though he also did a thirty-page plate edition for Penguin in 1947. The problem with both books is having some plates in black and white and this is where Frances Pohl's book scores because all the paintings are in color.The book is not the usual artists portfolio here the paintings are really an adjunct to the fourteen chapters rather than a conventional art book with one painting a page. The first thirty-one pages reveal Shahn's life followed by a closer examination that is based around the paintings and includes excerpts from his writings. A thing I liked about the book is the addition of the photos that Shahn took as reference for his paintings.Was he a painter, photographer or typographer? In fact, he was one of those rare creative people happy to uses any medium to get the result he wanted and I find it fascinating that his reference work, mostly photography, is so good that it's worth looking at as photo art. Page sixty-seven has his 1940 'Willis Avenue bridge' based on two photos taken in 1932, page seventy-five has an undated photo of an accordion player he took in New York and this turns into the wonderful 1945 painting 'Blind accordion player'.The paintings run from 1924 to 1968 (he died in 1969) and I think the book provides an excellent overview of Shahn's work. It's comparable with Kenneth Prescott's 1973 'Complete graphic works of Ben Shahn' but as the title implies it features graphics rather than paintings or photography. Handsomely designed (though it's essentially a reference work and the images are not that large) which is one thing that Pohl's book suffers from especially the long blocks of rather unreadable italic type that are used for the excerpts of Shahn's writings.Shahn's photography, closely tied into his paintings and murals, is covered in four books: Ben Shahn's New York: The Photography of Modern Times and his work for the FSA is featured in: Photographic Eye of Ben Shahn and Ben Shahn, Photographer: An Album from the Thirties and the excellent Fields of Vision: The Photographs of Ben Shahn: The Library of Congress . Look through these three and you'll see some many images that provided the source material for wonderful paintings and posters.***LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2023
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Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2019
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2010
There don't seem to be many books about Shahn's paintings. James Soby's 1963 monograph is probably the only worthwhile one, though he also did a thirty-page plate edition for Penguin in 1947. The problem with both books is having some plates in black and white and this is where Frances Pohl's book scores because all the paintings are in color.
The book is not the usual artists portfolio here the paintings are really an adjunct to the fourteen chapters rather than a conventional art book with one painting a page. The first thirty-one pages reveal Shahn's life followed by a closer examination that is based around the paintings and includes excerpts from his writings. A thing I liked about the book is the addition of the photos that Shahn took as reference for his paintings.
Was he a painter, photographer or typographer? In fact, he was one of those rare creative people happy to uses any medium to get the result he wanted and I find it fascinating that his reference work, mostly photography, is so good that it's worth looking at as photo art. Page sixty-seven has his 1940 'Willis Avenue bridge' based on two photos taken in 1932, page seventy-five has an undated photo of an accordion player he took in New York and this turns into the wonderful 1945 painting 'Blind accordion player'.
The paintings run from 1924 to 1968 (he died in 1969) and I think the book provides an excellent overview of Shahn's work. It's comparable with Kenneth Prescott's 1973 'Complete graphic works of Ben Shahn' but as the title implies it features graphics rather than paintings or photography. Handsomely designed (though it's essentially a reference work and the images are not that large) which is one thing that Pohl's book suffers from especially the long blocks of rather unreadable italic type that are used for the excerpts of Shahn's writings.
Shahn's photography, closely tied into his paintings and murals, is covered in four books: [[ASIN:0300083157 Ben Shahn's New York: The Photography of Modern Times]] and his work for the FSA is featured in: [[ASIN:0674666143 Photographic Eye of Ben Shahn]] and [[ASIN:0306713128 Ben Shahn, Photographer: An Album from the Thirties]] and the excellent [[ASIN:1904832407 Fields of Vision: The Photographs of Ben Shahn: The Library of Congress]] . Look through these three and you'll see some many images that provided the source material for wonderful paintings and posters.
***LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.
The book is not the usual artists portfolio here the paintings are really an adjunct to the fourteen chapters rather than a conventional art book with one painting a page. The first thirty-one pages reveal Shahn's life followed by a closer examination that is based around the paintings and includes excerpts from his writings. A thing I liked about the book is the addition of the photos that Shahn took as reference for his paintings.
Was he a painter, photographer or typographer? In fact, he was one of those rare creative people happy to uses any medium to get the result he wanted and I find it fascinating that his reference work, mostly photography, is so good that it's worth looking at as photo art. Page sixty-seven has his 1940 'Willis Avenue bridge' based on two photos taken in 1932, page seventy-five has an undated photo of an accordion player he took in New York and this turns into the wonderful 1945 painting 'Blind accordion player'.
The paintings run from 1924 to 1968 (he died in 1969) and I think the book provides an excellent overview of Shahn's work. It's comparable with Kenneth Prescott's 1973 'Complete graphic works of Ben Shahn' but as the title implies it features graphics rather than paintings or photography. Handsomely designed (though it's essentially a reference work and the images are not that large) which is one thing that Pohl's book suffers from especially the long blocks of rather unreadable italic type that are used for the excerpts of Shahn's writings.
Shahn's photography, closely tied into his paintings and murals, is covered in four books: [[ASIN:0300083157 Ben Shahn's New York: The Photography of Modern Times]] and his work for the FSA is featured in: [[ASIN:0674666143 Photographic Eye of Ben Shahn]] and [[ASIN:0306713128 Ben Shahn, Photographer: An Album from the Thirties]] and the excellent [[ASIN:1904832407 Fields of Vision: The Photographs of Ben Shahn: The Library of Congress]] . Look through these three and you'll see some many images that provided the source material for wonderful paintings and posters.
***LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2005
"This monograph on Ben Shahn, the first in over twenty years, follows his career as the leading social realist of our time. It covers his Depression-era images of urban decay, labor strikes, and poverty; the posters he created for the Office of War Information during World War II and his paintings of the destruction in war's aftermath; and his eventual rejection of social realism in favor of a 'personal realism' using allegory and symbolism. This book weaves a complex picture of this multifaceted artist and includes many extracts from Shahn's writings.
"168 pages, 100 full-color reproductions, hardbound book with dust jacket, size: 10 x 12." ISBN: 1-56640-312-X."--© Pomegranate
"168 pages, 100 full-color reproductions, hardbound book with dust jacket, size: 10 x 12." ISBN: 1-56640-312-X."--© Pomegranate
Images in this review
