A richly illustrated new exploration of the painting, photography, and illustration of the politically progressive American artist
Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity offers a fresh and wide-ranging account of the work of Ben Shahn (18981969), a Jewish immigrant from Russian-controlled Lithuania who became one of Americas most prominent and prolific social viewpoint artists from the Great Depression through the Vietnam War.
Revealing why Shahn remains so relevant today, the book examines his commitment to progressive political causes, from combating fascism to fighting for civil rights. Incorporating international perspectives, it investigates his World War II poster art, labor-related work, and engagement in postwar artistic debates. It brings new insights to Shahns social realist and documentary styles and their evolution into allegorical, lyrical, and often abstract idioms that embrace the philosophical and the spiritual. And it demonstrates the underappreciated complexity of Shahns layered visual language and how he experimented with modernist conceptual strategiesoften involving photographyto create his paintings, murals, drawings, prints, posters, illustrated books, and commercial designs.
Shahns guiding credoformulated in the Cold Warasserted that nonconformity was the precondition for all significant art and great social change. Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity illuminates why the artists work should be seen as a series of nonconformities driven by his steadfast dedication to social justice and humanistic values.
Published by the Jewish Museum, New York and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofķa, Madrid, in association with Princeton University Press
Exhibition Schedule The Jewish Museum, New York May 23October 12, 2025
