사회주의 리얼리즘 작가 벤 샨(Ben Shahn, 1898-1960) 회고전 '비순응에 관하여(On Nonconformity)'가 쥬이시뮤지엄(5/23-10/26)에서 열리고 있다. 러시아 제국의 일부였던 리투아니아에서 태어난 벤 샨은 1906년 아버지가 혁명활동 혐의로 추방되자 가족과 함께 미국으로 이주, 브루클린에서 성장했다. 뉴욕대에서 생물학을 전공하다가 국립디자인아카데미에서 공부했다. 사회 다큐멘터리 작가로서 대공황 중 공공미술사업(Public Works of Art Project)에 참가했으며, 디에고 리베라, 워커 에반스와 협력해 뉴딜 정책 하의 노동조건과 미국사회의 삶을 다룬 사진 및 벽화를 제작했다. 1954년 베니스 비엔날레에 미국대표로 참가했으며, 1956년부터 하버드대에서 가르쳤다.

https://thejewishmuseum.org

 

 

Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, May 23 – Oct. 26, 2025, Jewish Museum, NYC

 

 

Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity 

 

May 23 – Oct. 26, 2025

Jewish Museum, NYC

 

The Jewish Museum presents the first U.S. retrospective in nearly half a century dedicated to social realist artist and activist Ben Shahn (1898-1969).

 

Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity examines the prolific and progressive artist’s commitment to chronicling and confronting crucial issues of his era, spanning from the Great Depression to the Vietnam War, as well as his exploration of spirituality and Jewish texts. Featuring 175 artworks and objects from the 1930s to the 1960s, including paintings, mural studies, prints, photographs, commercial designs, and ephemera, the exhibition highlights the enduring relevance of Shahn’s art across media, while revealing new insights into the complexity of his aesthetic and his decisive shift from documentary to allegorical and poetic styles in pursuit of a visual language that would resonate widely.

 

 

 

Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, May 23 – Oct. 26, 2025, Jewish Museum, NYC

 

The exhibition draws its title from Ben Shahn’s credo of “nonconformity,” which the artist asserted as an indispensable precondition for both significant artistic production and all great societal change. This philosophy is centered in the exhibition as the foundational thread that runs through the artist’s oeuvre, which investigates issues such as unemployment, discrimination, authoritarianism, and threats to freedom of expression, while championing labor, civil, and human rights. Shahn’s later spiritual work, which embraces the Hebrew language and biblical stories, also reflects his exploration of a tradition of social justice activism within Jewish culture.

 

 

 

Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, May 23 – Oct. 26, 2025, Jewish Museum, NYC

 

 

In the Press

 

“‘Contemporary American Sculpture’ captures what’s at stake in the most potent works in Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, as this revelatory survey is called. Those works use the time-honored art of painting to make the modern world, and its signature troubles, as present as Shahn can manage. The effect is gripping, and feels utterly relevant for the troubled moment we are living in now.”

—The New York Times

 

 

Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, May 23 – Oct. 26, 2025, Jewish Museum, NYC

 

“Across Manhattan, the Jewish Museum has mounted a vital exhibition called “Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity,” showing why authoritarians are so often afraid of artists who use their canvases to speak against social and political injustice….As Shahn knew, art can only be effective at illuminating and healing if it is unconstrained by authority.”

—The New York Times

 

“This retrospective celebrates the breadth of Shahn’s vision by adding his rarely seen posters, prints, and photographs. Part of what makes Shahn fascinating—and ripe for this moment—is the way he turned his relentless quest for justice into a brushy, almost delicate style that was wholly his own.”

—The New Yorker

 

“At last, Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, a lively and essential exhibition at New York’s Jewish Museum, rediscovers what several generations of lefties, workers and egalitarian connoisseurs  already knew: Shahn was a master at combining political passion, emotional resonance and rhetorical precision into a sharp, activist art. He now seems more relevant than ever.”

—Financial Times

 

 

Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, May 23 – Oct. 26, 2025, Jewish Museum, NYC

 

“A major retrospective opening this month at the Jewish Museum in New York, Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, honours the artist’s lifelong activism.”

—The Art Newspaper

 

“A new retrospective at the Jewish Museum finds an artist whose Jewish identity was linked to a questioning crusade for justice.”

—Forward

 

“At the Jewish Museum in New York, Ben Shahn’s first retrospective in nearly half a century brings his vision of justice, protest, and a Jewish identity based on empathy and dissent back into focus.”

—Haaretz

 

 

Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, May 23 – Oct. 26, 2025, Jewish Museum, NYC

 

“All our struggles are connected” is a rallying cry of the contemporary left….But Shahn (1898–1969) embodied it consistently throughout his artistic career….almost every cause that mattered to the American left from the 1920s through the 1960s is reflected in this exhaustive, generous exhibition.”

—Jewish Currents

 

“Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity is the artist’s first retrospective in the United States in almost fifty years. Impeccably curated and designed, the exhibition aims to bring renewed critical attention to one of America’s most consequential modernists.”

—Arte Al Dia

 

 

Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, May 23 – Oct. 26, 2025, Jewish Museum, NYC

https://thejewishmuseum.org