Federal Art Project and Ben Shahn

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Ben Shahn was a great American artist, social activist, and photographer. He is well-known for his works of `Social Realism', which represent his social and political views. Shahn is probably one of the 20th century's most important illustrators and narrative artists in the U.S.Shahn was born in Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. His father was exiled to Siberia for alleged revolutionary activities in 1902. In 1906 his family emigrated to America and lived in Williamsburg of Brooklyn, New York. His earlier training as a typographer seems to have affected his later prints and paintings.In addition to his social and political views, I also traced this brilliant artist's personal life. He began and ended his career in working on Jewish themes, but cruelly abandoned his first Jewish wife, Tillie Goldstein, and their two children to marry a Christian woman, Bernarda Bryson.Shahn created a poster to protest the execution of Bartrolomeo Vanzetti and Nicolo Sacco who were electrocuted in 1927. He pain … More ted "The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti," in 1931 which immediately made him famous in America. To him, the Sacco-Vanzetti Case was a proof that freedom of thought and freedom of expression were in a hollow and critical situation.Franklin D.Roosevelt, the President of the U.S. during the period of the Great Depression, wanted to do a noble thing, and supported painting, theater, and other creative arts. His paternalism made possible federal subsidies to cultural arts. Under Roosevelt's leadership, American government granted subsidies to artists through two agencies: Section of Painting and Sculpture (later Section of Fine Arts) in the Treasury Department; and Federal Art Project in the Works Progress Administration (WPA).Shahn was affected by these New Deal art projects, and joined a photographic group at the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in documenting American South with Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange. In early years, FSA photo project emphasized a rural life and the miserable impact of the Great Depression on it. In later years, however, the photographers turned their attention to World War II, and helped mobilize national resources against European fascism. Less