In The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art, readers take a fascinating journey through the life of an artist driven to create images of real lives and real places around him. As a young child in Lithuania, Ben Shahn noticed things: how his elders created useful objects out of wood and clay, how elegant the letters of his Hebrew Bible stories were. He also saw, and felt, the injustices around him: students or teachers at school bullying or discrediting him, his father taken away from the family for speaking against the Czar. Ben put his thoughts and feelings into pictures—a passion that would drive his energy for the rest of his life. Eventually Ben’s father escaped to America, and the family was able to follow when Ben was eight years old. Ben captured the life around him in America—chalking sidewalk portraits of boys who teased him, copying the forms of English text in his schoolbooks. Soon Ben had to leave school to help support his family and, working for a lithographer, he learned techniques of lettering and carving. At night he attended art school but his instructors did not appreciate his work based on real life, telling him to paint beautiful scenes instead. But Ben was compelled to convey the injustices he saw around him. His realistic images portrayed powerfully the lives of working people, poor people, immigrants and prisoners. He took photographs and painted murals as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs to assist people suffering in the Great Depression. In the 1930s, he created a series of paintings about Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two immigrant men who spoke out against the government, and were convicted of murder in a trial which many people felt was unjust. Ben’s unrelentingly realistic art—in scenes that did not portray a beautiful America—led to accusations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Ben was disloyal. Overcoming these threats, Ben continued to paint as a social activist in support of peace and justice. His work stands as an enduring record of decades of our history.
To conclude this wonderful picture book biography, Cynthia Levinson presents an Author’s Note placing the life of Ben Shahn in historical context, sharing her long appreciation of the themes in his art, and providing windows to her scholarly research. In an Illustrator’s Note, Evan Turk tells readers that Shahn’s work has always been his inspiration–in their bold, expressive energy and storytelling power. Levinson’s narrative and Turk’s colorful pages together convey one artist’s drive to capture the complex world around him. Ages 5-9. Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2021.
