Artwork Page for Stores in Plain City, Ohio

Details / Information for Stores in Plain City, Ohio

Stores in Plain City, Ohio

1938

Ben Shahn

(American, 1898–1969)
Culture
America
Medium
gelatin silver print
Measurements
Image: 16.2 x 24.3 cm (6 3/8 x 9 9/16 in.); Paper: 20.5 x 25.3 cm (8 1/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Samuel J. Lehr 2016.556
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 captures wooden storefronts in sharp, high-contrast shadows. A long "RADIO SERVICE" sign extends across the center, flanked by a clock shaped like a pocket watch and a "CHURCH'S GARAGE" sign. Buildings recede toward the right, passing a "Bartels BEER" poster and a barber pole. On the far left, window text lists repairs for watches, clocks, radios, and guns. Distant figures walk along the sunlit sidewalk.

Stores in Plain City, Ohio

1938

Ben Shahn

(American, 1898–1969)
America

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