Artwork Page for Spectators at Farmland Auction, New Carlisle, Ohio

Details / Information for Spectators at Farmland Auction, New Carlisle, Ohio

Spectators at Farmland Auction, New Carlisle, Ohio

1938

Ben Shahn

(American, 1898–1969)
Culture
America
Medium
gelatin silver print
Measurements
Image: 15.8 x 24 cm (6 1/4 x 9 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Samuel J. Lehr 2015.559
Copyright
© Estate of Ben Shahn / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

American painter and printmaker Ben Shahn also had a significant career as a photographer in the 1930s surveying the impact of the Great Depression on the American people. In July and August 1938, the Farm Security Administration, a federal agency, commissioned Shahn to cover the harvest in Central Ohio. His photographs constitute an invaluable in-depth portrait of rural and small town life in 1930s Ohio.
A horizontally oriented black-and-white photograph depicts several men with light skin tones against horizontal siding. Centrally, a man faces away wearing a straw hat, denim overalls, rolled sleeves, and straps labeled BLUE BELL. To our left, an older man in profile wears a light fedora and striped suspenders. To our right, another man in a dark fedora faces away. A fourth man stands in the background, looking down at his hands.

Spectators at Farmland Auction, New Carlisle, Ohio

1938

Ben Shahn

(American, 1898–1969)
America

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