Artwork Page for A cleaning and pressing shop in Urbana, Ohio

Details / Information for A cleaning and pressing shop in Urbana, Ohio

A cleaning and pressing shop in Urbana, Ohio

1938

Ben Shahn

(American, 1898–1969)
Culture
America
Medium
gelatin silver print
Measurements
Image: 16.3 x 24.2 cm (6 7/16 x 9 1/2 in.); Paper: 20.5 x 25.4 cm (8 1/16 x 10 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Samuel J. Lehr 2016.562
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 a storefront window on our left and an open doorway on our right. Arched lettering on the glass spells "The PANTITORIUM" above "Cleaning & Pressing." A man with medium-dark skin leans in the doorway, looking right. In the window display, ferns and signs sit behind the glass, which reflects a second man inside. Dark wooden frames divide the image into several stark rectangular sections.

A cleaning and pressing shop in Urbana, Ohio

1938

Ben Shahn

(American, 1898–1969)
America

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