The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Street Scene in Columbus, Ohio
1938
(American, 1898–1969)
Image: 16.2 x 24.2 cm (6 3/8 x 9 1/2 in.); Paper: 20.6 x 25.3 cm (8 1/8 x 9 15/16 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1996.359
© Estate of Ben Shahn / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Location: not on view
Description
Active as a photographer in the mid-1930s, Ben Shahn learned photography from Walker Evans with whom he shared a studio in New York in 1929. Between 1935 and 1938, Shahn worked for the Farm Security Administration documenting the life of rural America during the Depression. In a direct and straightforward style, Shahn recorded the farmlands, mining towns, and main streets of America such as in Street Scene in Columbus, Ohio. Using a Leica camera with a right-angle viewfinder, Shahn was able to record his subjects unaware which added a powerful spontaneity to his photographs. The combination of the frontality of the subject matter, the flatness of space, and image text creates a strong graphic quality in the photographs reminiscent of his prints and paintings.- The Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA
- Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007).The Cleveland Museum of Art (6/24/07 - 9/16/07); "Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art", no exhibition catalogue.
- {{cite web|title=Street Scene in Columbus, Ohio|url=false|author=Ben Shahn|year=1938|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.359