I came across this link of exhibits (thanks to Speckled Paint) : Grey Art Gallery

Check it out, it has some really nice stuff. One of them was an exhibit of Ben Shahn photographs: Ben Shahn's New York

I discovered Ben Shahn in 1963. I was a second year Architecture student and the world of art was opening up and blowing my mind. The artist that I remember most was Ben Shahn. He worked in several mediums — he was a painter, a print maker, and a photographer. It wasn't just what he did with lines — it was his humanity. He was also a writer. The best book I've read on art was his The Shape of Content. It's been too many years since I've read it. I went rummaging through my books and found it. It's a bit yellowed around the edges. It's now on the top of my reading pile.

Ben Shahn
Passion for Justice

Ben Shahn was an artist who spoke to the world. A man of uncompromising beliefs, he became the most popular artist of his age – his work was on the cover of Time as well as in the Museum of Modern Art.

Shahn came to prominence in the 1930s with "The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti," a politically pointed series about the Italian anarchists who many believed were framed for murder. He went on to paint murals and take photographs for the government during the New Deal, and to become a successful painter and commercial artist. (...)

From The Shape of Content:

On Nonconformity

The artist is likely to be looked upon with some uneasiness by the more conservative members of society. He seems a little unpredictable. Who knows but that he may arrive for dinner in a red shirt… appear unexpectedly bearded… offer, freely, unsolicited advice… or even ship off one of his ears to some unwilling recipient? However glorious the history of art, the history of artists is quite another matter. And in any well-ordered household the very thought that one of the young may turn out to be an artist can be a cause for general alarm. It may be a point of great pride to have a Van Gogh on the living room wall, but the prospect of having Van Gogh himself in the living room would put a good many devoted art lovers to rout.
[more]

It's nice to see it's still in print. My old copy of The Shape of Content was $1.25. The current list price is $13.00.

Photographer: Ben Shahn

Ben Shahn made two important contributions to the newly formed Historical Section in 1935. First, of course, were the photographs he himself added to the agency's file. The portion dating from 1935 is small--less than 2 percent of the eight-year accumulation--but about one-third of those early images are Shahn's. And second, his counsel, along with that of several colleagues at the Resettlement Administration, helped Roy Stryker clarify his mission. Shahn's sophistication as a painter and printmaker and his keenly felt moral sensibility influenced the running dialogue he had with Stryker. Once, Shahn recalled in 1964, he had explained to Stryker that a certain photograph of soil erosion would not have a strong impact on viewers. "Look Roy," Shahn said, "you're not going to move anybody with this eroded soil--but the effect this eroded soil has on a kid who looks starved, this is going to move people."
[more]

Ben Shahn at Harvard

Ben Shahn at The Old Print Shop