The Artist and the Politicians: Ben Shahn, 1947-1954

On September 30, 1947 the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MOMA) opened its first retrospective exhibition of the work of the American artist Ben Shahn. In 1954 it organized another extensive exhibition of Shahn's work that was sent to Venice to represent U.S. painting at that year's Venice Biennial. These dates mark not only a time of intense artistic and political activity on Shahn's part, but also the height of McCarthyism and the Cold War. It is the intent of this study to investigate the complex manner in which Shahn's activities and the larger historical circumstances within which they occurred interacted during this seven year period.Such an investigation will contribute not only to the secondary literature on Shahn, which focuses most often on his work in the 1930s, but also to the art historical literature on this period in general, which tends to treat these years as the sole preserve of abstract expressionism. In studying Shahn's work and life at this time, we gain an understanding of Shahn as both an artist and a political activist; of the nature of the debates and tensions between figurative and abstract artists; and of the mechanics of trying to remain politically progressive in one of the most reactionary periods in U.S. history.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1985.School code: 0031