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Ben Shahn Was a Propagandist and Proud of It

JL;DR SUMMARY In her book "Ben Shahn's New Deal Murals: Jewish Identity in the American Scene," art historian Diana L. Linden explores the impactful and politically charged murals of American Jewish artist Ben Shahn, who celebrated his role as a propagandist. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish IdentityPropagandaLithuaniaGender BiasWalt WhitmanDiego RiveraPolitical ArtBen ShahnNew Deal MuralsAmerican Scene

Places mentioned

Lithuania
"A firebrand and activist from childhood on in Lithuania, at age 6 if he saw anything in uniform, be it a letter carrier or a policeman, [Shahn] would run up and yell, Down with the Czar!"
California, United States
"Diana Linden, a California-based art historian, emphasizes how Shahn, although best remembered today for such strong graphic achievements as Haggadah for Passover, The Alphabet of Creation and images honoring the anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, also produced larger-scale works perhaps even closer to his artistic essence."
Rome, Italy
"And it certainly isnt a terrible thing when on the Piazza dEspagna [in Rome] theres the building that is for the propaganda of the Church."
Bronx, New York, United States
"Yet Catholics did protest Shahns murals in the Bronxs main post office."
New York City, New York, United States
"and only in 2013 were they declared interior landmarks with protected status by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission."
Roosevelt, New Jersey, United States
"The German word verboten, meaning forbidden, also occurred in Shahns mural painted in from 1937 to 1938 for the community center of Jersey Homesteads (today called Roosevelt), New Jersey."
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
"A never-realized 1939 mural project for the post office of St. Louis included images of pogroms and of prisoners behind barbed wire fences in concentration camps."
Mexico
"Shahn learned fresco techniques from the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, whose wall works were internationally popular from the 1920s onward."

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Retrieved 2025-05-24 05:31:27 UTC
Curated 2025-05-24 08:30:46 UTC