| Ben Shahn |
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Ben Shahn ( September 12 , 1898 - March 14 1969 ) was a Lithuania n-born America n Artist , muralist, social activist, photographer and Teacher . He is best known for his works of Social Realism , his leftist political views, and his series of lectures published as '' The Shape Of Content ''. He was born in Kovno ( Kaunas ), Lithuania, to Joshua Hessel and Gittel (Lieberman) Shahn. His father was exiled to Siberia for alleged revolutionary activities in 1902 , at which point Shahn, his mother, and his three younger siblings moved to Vilkomir . In 1906 , the family immigrated to America where they rejoined Hessel, who had fled Siberia. They settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York . Shahn began his path to becoming an artist in New York, where he was first trained as a Typographer . Shahn's early experiences with typography and graphic design is apparent in his later prints and paintings which often include the combination of text and image. He was recommended by Walker Evans , a friend and former roommate, to Roy Stryker to join the photographic group at the Farm Security Administration (FSA), traveling and documenting the American south alongside Walker Evans , Dorothea Lange and other photographers. In May and June 1933 he served as an assistant to Diego Rivera while Rivera executed the infamous Rockefeller Center mural, and by circulating a petition among the workers, Shahn had a role in fanning the controversy. Shahn left the FSA in 1938 , and that same year he and his wife Bernarda moved to the new town of Jersey Homesteads (now Roosevelt, New Jersey ). In 1975 , the Harvard University Press published ''The Photographic Eye of Ben Shahn,'' which has a collection of his works. , Syracuse, NY]] EXTERNAL LINKS
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