Deputy Sheriff During Strike, Morgantown, West Virginia
Artist
Ben Shahn
(American, 1898-1969)
CultureAmerican | Lithuanian
Date1935
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 7 11/16 × 9 3/4 in. (19.5 × 24.8 cm)
Overall, Paper: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Paper: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
InscribedVerso, in pencil: Pu6121
Credit LineMuseum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank
Object number2003.9
Not on view
Label TextBen Shahn
American (b. Lithuania, 1898-1969)
Deputy Sheriff During Strike, Morgantown, West Virginia, 1935
Gelatin-silver print
Purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank 2003.9
~
Many people know of Ben Shahn through his paintings. In fact, he did start making photographs to serve as sketches for his other artwork. He began working with photography in the early 1930s while sharing an apartment in New York's Greenwich Village with Walker Evans. This is one of his signature images and was made in this geographical region on a journey that he and Bernarda Bryson, who later became his wife, made in a Model A Ford through the South. The composition is characteristic of Shahn's offhanded approach to photography. It depicts the backside of a deputy sheriff during a miner's strike in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Although Shahn made this photograph when he worked for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) from 1935 to 1938 he also worked for the Federal Art Project Works Progress Administration (WPA). There was a distinct difference between the two programs. The purpose of the FSA photographic unit was to serve as propaganda for the government. The purpose of the WPA Art Project was to provide work across a wide spectrum of the unemployed. For example, Norfolk's Botanical Garden was constructed as a WPA project.
Shahn was associated with the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine for many years. In 1978, he designed a "Court Attendant" costume for a dance that was sold by Skowhegan to provide scholarships for students. That costume is also included in the Chrysler collection.
Edited By: GLY
Edited Date: 11/07/2003Exhibition History"Silver Images: The Photography Collection at 25," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 5, 2003 - August 2004.
