Benjamin Shahn was born in New York City in 1893. At age seventeen he left school and began working for lithographers, printers, and bookbinders. He was influenced by the artistic movement known as the New York School. During World War I, Shahn enlisted in the Army Air Corps
He made his way through the ranks to become an officer in the Army of Occupation in Germany after World War I. When he returned to New York, he began to paint murals, first for public buildings and later for private homes.
Who knows when a trenchant line becomes a human face?Ben Shahn
To abstract is to draw out the essence of a matter. To abstract in art is to separate certain fundamentals from irrelevant material which surrounds them.Ben Shahn
An amateur is an artist who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint. A professional is someone whose wife works to enable him to paint.Ben Shahn
