A Birthday Tribute for All Ages

Painter, photographer, and lithographer Ben Shahn was born on this date in 1898.

Ben Shahn is best known as a social realist who came to prominence during the early 1930s. Following World War II, his work became more introspective, reflecting his belief that "if we are to have values, a spiritual life, a culture, these things must find their imagery … through the arts."

This painting is based on Allegory of Prudence by the Venetian Renaissance artist, Titian. In both works three male heads represent youth, maturity, and old age. Titian elaborated his meaning through inscriptions that identify past, present, and future. Shahn, however, is more personal, using a pair of folded hands and the suggestion of a body to unite the faces within a single figure—the ages of one man.

Source: Virginia M. Mecklenburg. Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection (exhibition text, National Museum of American Art, 1987).

Pictured: Ben Shahn, 1898 Lithuania–1969 USA, After Titian, 1959, tempera on fiberboard, 53 1/2 x 30 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation.