| Ben Shahn (1898-1969) - judicial injustice | ||
| texas.net Sacco & Vanzetti |
Shahn was born in Lithuania and
raised in a Brooklyn slum. He attended classes at NY University, City College of NY and
the National Academy of Design. Shahn went to Paris to study in 1920s but was in the U.S.
for visit during the execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti for the murder of a paymaster and guard in a hold-up. The only witness was
a considerable distance away from the crime and caught only a fleeting glimpse as the
assailants drove away. But Sacco and Vanzetti, who were anarchists, were convicted and
executed. Beginning in 1931, Shahn produced a series of paintings (including the Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti) based on the case. "I prefer to call it personal realism. Social Realism is from outside. Personal Realism is from the gut." Shahn worked as a painter and photographer for the Farm Security Administration and was apprenticed as a lithographer.
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Shahn was shocked
when Sacco and Vanzetti were electrocuted.