The Photographs of Ben Shahn

Providing a unique view of American life during the Great Depression and Second World War, each volume in the Fields of Vision series focuses on a single photographer whose vision helped shape the collective identity of America and influenced the way we look at photographs in the 21st century. All of the images in each volume are chosen from the Library of Congress’s renowned collection of Farm Security Administration (FSA) and Office of War Information (OWI) photographs.

Ben Shahn (1898–1969) immigrated to New York from present-day Lithuania in 1906 with his family. In 1935, he began working for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) after his former roommate, photographer Walker Evans, recommended him to Roy Stryker, the head of the photography section. He worked in a variety of genres and was an exponent of Social Realism, focusing on social justice and other left-wing themes in his art.