Ben Shahn - Artist Research

Ben Shahn was born in Lithuania in 1898 and was an American artist. He is best known for his artwork related to themes of social realism, he held left-wing political views.His work has a sense of narrative about it, showcasing his opinions about social and political injustice in an artistic way through mediums such as painting and drawing. He has created artist books and narrative books he has written and illustrated himself as well as prints, drawings and paintings for commercial use that have been exhibited in art galleries.

I decided to research Ben Shahn because I am interested in his use of hand drawn type that he incorporates within his visual imagery. 

BOOK ART

Inside page of Ben Shahn's book 'The Biography of a Painting'

I like the way this artwork combines text into the image, the text becomes part of the image as well as creating an image in the form of the book or magazine the male figure is holding. The drawing style is stylised and bold in terms of jagged mark making and block tone. The handwritten typography particularly stands out because it is written in red ink/paint whilst the imagery is purely black and white on a white paper page.

I have used this text as image technique in my book cover design for the Penguin Design Awards. I incorporated the title, 'Noughts and Crosses' into my tree trunk base imagery. 

Another page inside Ben Shahn's book 'The Biography of a Painting'

The double page spread above doesn't include any text but it is still a strikingly detailed illustration. Line drawing has been used and a monochromatic palette to create an intricate drawing of an interesting looking building. I am very drawn to architecture and have based my self-promotional postcards around this theme. I also used a black and white palette to begin with, intending to add colour by hand once my postcards have been digitally printed at the digital print bureau. 

Front cover of Ben Shahn's book 'The Biography of a Painting'

The front cover of 'The Biography of a Painting' above is a striking image showcasing a successful relationship between text and image. The image is a simplistic line drawing with a thick, confident quality of mark-making. It is mostly positioned on a bright blue background that appears to be a piece of torn paper, collaged with a lighter off-white paper. The title text is written in capital letters mainly, with the 'i's written in lower case letters. I think this is quite effective because it emphasises the words that have an 'i' in them, 'Biography' and 'Painting'. These are the keywords that indicate what the book is about. 

The author and illustrator's name is written in a handwritten signature style, I think it probably is Ben Shahn's own signature that has been added to the front cover design. I like the contrast between a darker and lighter colour as well as the use of a thick black line which makes the artistic elements stand out more. The figure drawing could represent the artist himself because he has been drawn holding paintbrushes, I think this is a nice touch because it is a biographical book.

PRINTS

'We Shall Overcome' (Martin Luther King), 1965, Lithograph on Japon, signed in the plate
  

Another example of an artwork that combines text with image. In this example, the text is positioned at the top of the print like a title. 'We Shall Overcome' is written in a handwritten style in brown or dark red ink. The print is black and white, it has an emotive quality to it because of the facial expression that has been portrayed. Martin Luther King is a key figure in American political history so the work has a sense of iconography about it. I think the chosen printmaking medium of lithography has been used very skillfully and I like the use of dark tonal shadows, helping to bring the figure to life. 
The work forms part of a series of a 'Nine Drawings Portfolio'.   

The image below is more text heavy than the previous print. I think it has been well thought through to make it look as if the men are sort of sitting on a wall of text. I notice that the figures don't have eyes and appear quite expressionless, this could be a deliberate choice to match well with what has been written. I like this drawing style because the emphasis seems to be more on the shapes and forms of the figures rather than how they look to the eye realistically. They could have been drawn in this way to portray each individual's personality. Sometimes adding colour can make an illustration too busy and in this case colour would have been too chaotic with the block of text. 

Throughout the rest of this unit and in future units and projects, I would like to challenge myself to use more typography within my own artwork as a way of sharing my own thoughts and feelings towards a subject matter or to just give the viewer some brief information explaining what the illustration is about.

'Sacco and Vanzetti' poster, 1930s