{"data":{"id":"1203","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1203,"topgoose_id":594,"tms_id":1203,"display_name":"Ben Shahn","sort_name":"Shahn Ben","display_date":"1898–1969","begin_date":"1898","end_date":"1969","biography":"\u003cp\u003eBen Shahn rose to prominence as a leading\nproponent of Social Realism, a style that\nresponded to the social, economic, and\npolitical conditions of the Great Depression.\nIn both paintings and photographs he\nportrayed the hardships of poverty and\nprotested the era’s social injustices.\n\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/1022\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c/em\u003ebelongs\nto a series of twenty-three works that\nShahn based on the controversial trial of\nItalian immigrants Nicola Sacco and\nBartolomeo Vanzetti, who in 1921, despite\nweak evidence, were found guilty of\nkilling two men during the robbery of a\nMassachusetts shoe factory. In 1927,\nafter years of legal appeals, the presiding\njudge, Webster Thayer, sentenced the\ntwo men to death, and the decision—which\nmany believed reflected bias against\ntheir ethnic background and anarchist\nbeliefs—was met with worldwide protests.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst exhibited in 1932, Shahn’s\n\u003cem\u003eSacco and Vanzetti\u003c/em\u003e series launched his\ncareer. Each image represents an episode\nfrom the story in a pared-down, graphic\nstyle that conveys a sense of directness and\nimmediacy. Here, the three members of\nthe Lowell Committee, a group appointed\nto investigate the bias charges, stand\nover the coffins of the men whose fate they\nsealed by affirming the verdict’s legitimacy—\nthe white lilies they hold seem like an\nempty gesture. Behind them, Judge Thayer\nis visible through a window, his right hand\nraised as if taking an oath. The allusion\nin the title to the Passion of Christ suggests\nthat the work is a broader meditation on\nmartyrdom and injustice. As Shahn remarked,\n“I was living through another crucifixion.\nHere was something to paint!”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500005524","wikidata_id":"Q695239","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:44:30.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-27T07:00:41.900-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1203/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1203/exhibitions"}}}}