The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2023

Rilke Portfolio

Beside the Dead

c. 1968

Part of a set. See all set records

Ben Shahn

(American, 1898–1969)

printer

Mourlot Editions

America, 20th century

Lithograph

Gift of the Hawken School 2020.98.6

© Estate of Ben Shahn / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Ben Shahn began his career as a commercial lithographer, where he learned the techniques seen in this print.

Description

This print belongs to a series based on the German writer Rainer Maria Rilke’s autobiographical novel The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, which dealt with the challenge of artistic creation amidst feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and defeat. American artist Ben Shahn used evocative images to suggest rather than directly interpret the poet’s words.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed at lower right, in pencil: Ben Shahn

Inscription

Watermark: Arches

Inscription

In folder printed on exterior: XXI

Inscription

on interior, at left: …must have sat beside the dead in the room with the open window and the fitful noises

Provenance
Hawken School, Gates Mills, OH
March 2, 2020
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Prescott, Kenneth W., and Ben Shahn. The Complete Graphic Works of Ben Shahn. 1973. p. 116, fig. 135
Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.98.6