Street Scene in Columbus, Ohio

1938

Ben Shahn

(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

Location: not on view

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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.