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ben shahn (dict)
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Ben ShahnBen Shahn (September 12, 1898 - March 14 1969) was a Lithuanian-born American artist and teacher. He is best known for his works of Social Realism, and his series of lectures published as The Shape of Content. 'What shall I paint?' - the answer is a pretty obvious one, 'Paint what you are, paint what you believe, paint what you feel.' But to go a little deeper, such a question seems to indicate an absence of opinion, or perhaps it indicates a belief, not an uncommon one, that painting ought to be this or ought to be that, that there is some preferred list of appropriate subjects. Again I think that many young people if they were asked 'What do you believe, or hold most dear?' would reply honestly, 'I do not know.' And so we again go back to our first outline for an education: 'In college or out of college, read, and form opinions.' - Ben Shahn, in The Shape of Content. Benjamin Shahn was born in Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania, to father Joshua Hessel and mother 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 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. Shahn, Ben Shahn, Ben Shahn, Ben
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