Lot 134 : Ben Shahn (1868-1969)
Auction Location: United States of America - 2002
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Description:
Vanity tempera on masonite 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm.) PROVENANCE Downtown Gallery, New York. Mr. Joseph Gersten. Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 13 December 1973, lot 68. Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 12 December 1974, lot 36. Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York. George Strichman, New York. EXHIBITION New York, The Downtown Gallery, Ben Shahn: Exhibition of New Paintings and Drawings, October-November 1949, no. 7 Chicago, The Arts Club of Chicago, Ben Shahn - William de Kooning - Jackson Pollack, October 1951, no. 12 Waltham, Massachusetts, Abraham Shapiro Athletic Center, Brandeis University, The Comic Spirit, June 1953, no. 102 NOTES RELATED WORKS: Vanity, 1948, ink on paper, 9 5/8 x 6 3/8 in., Collection of Edith Halpert, New York. Born in Kovno, Lithuania to an orthodox Jewish family, Ben Shahn established himself in his lifetime as one of America's leading Social-Realist painters. In the 1920s he traveled to Europe and North Africa and became increasingly committed to social justice themes ranging from social ills at large to the plight of the individuals. In the 1930s Ben Shahn painted murals for the Works Progress Administration, worked as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration and designed government posters during World War II. Ben Shahn executed illustrations for various magazines and newspapers throughout his career. Vanity was illustrated in the October 30, 1949 edition of the New York Herald Tribune. The painting represents the theme of vanity in a playful surrealistic manner quintessential of the artist's work at the time.
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