Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity

A richly illustrated new exploration of the painting, photography, and illustration of the politically progressive American artist
Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity offers a fresh and wide-ranging account of the work of Ben Shahn (1898-1969), a Jewish immigrant from Russian-controlled Lithuania who became one of America's most prominent and prolific "social viewpoint" artists from the Great Depression through the Vietnam War.
Revealing why Shahn remains so relevant today, the book examines his commitment to progressive political causes, from combating fascism to fighting for civil rights. Incorporating international perspectives, it investigates his World War II poster art, labor-related work, and engagement in postwar artistic debates. It brings new insights to Shahn's social realist and documentary styles and their evolution into allegorical, lyrical, and often abstract idioms that embrace the philosophical and the spiritual. And it demonstrates the underappreciated complexity of Shahn's layered visual language and how he experimented with modernist conceptual strategies-often involving photography-to create his paintings, murals, drawings, prints, posters, illustrated books, and commercial designs.
Shahn's guiding credo-formulated in the Cold War-asserted that nonconformity was the precondition for all significant art and great social change. Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity illuminates why the artist's work should be seen as a series of "nonconformities" driven by his steadfast dedication to social justice and humanistic values.
Exhibition Schedule
The Jewish Museum, New York
May 23-October 12, 2025

Laura Katzman is professor of art history at James Madison University. She is the coauthor of Ben Shahn's New York: The Photography of Modern Times and Re-viewing Documentary: The Photographic Life of Louise Rosskam.