Art History News: Ben Shahn at Auction

Friday, December 19, 2014

Ben Shahn at Auction

Christie's 2012

Ben Shahn (1898-1969),

Hamilton Fish Park

A watercolor and gouache on paper by Ben Shahn (1898-1969) entitled Hamilton Fish Park is also from the Collection of Dr. Mark and Irene Kauffman (estimate: $25,000-35,000). An artist of varying media, Shahn was extremely productive in Depression-era New York and he often embraced socio-political themes. Hamilton Fish Park, is a quintessential work by Shahn, where the composition is derived from two separate photographs taken by the artist, one from which he painted the three men sitting in the foreground and the other, the background. Compelling examples of social realist art in their own right, both original photographs will be included in the lot.

Also by Ben Shahn is a maquette for Apotheosis (estimate: $30,000-50,000). The mixed media study was executed in 1956, when the New York State Board of Education commissioned Shahn to create a mural for the William E. Grady Vocational School in Brooklyn. Adhering to his common motifs of religion and socio-political issues, Apotheosis is composed of several vignettes, which depict the fall of man after the destruction caused by war, followed by a phoenix to suggest the rebirth of man though allegories for art, philosophy, astrology and music. With the finished mural aptly placed in a school, these are all elements imperative to the foundation of education.

Sotheby's 2014