Author: Edited by Alejandro Anreus
Subject: Art/American Studies
Paper ISBN 0-8135-2944-1
Pages: 8x10, 160 pp., 12 color and 32 b&w illus.
Description: A companion volume to the first exhibit displaying the 1931-32 series of paintings on the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti, by the leading social realist artist of his time.
Praise for Ben Shahn and The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti
"Of the 23 original works of art, Jersey City Museum (JCM) guest curator Alejandro Anreus, Ph.D., has assembled the most comprehensive presentation of "The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti" since 1932 with 16 of the originals. These pieces from the original series will appear in the JCM exhibition juxtaposed with photographs of the case along with later treatment of the subject by Shahn in other mediums."Antiques and the Arts Weekly
"This catalog for an exhibit organized by the Jersey City Museum includes five essays on Beh Shahn and his work, with specific emphasis on Sacco and Vanzetti.The essays are authoritative, easy to read, and well documented with 15 pages of endnotes. Additionally, six pages of bibliographic sources round out an excellent set of references. This is a scholarly catalog rather than a picture catalog, and it significantly contributes not only to the printed materials on Ben Shahn, but also to the historical materials about the Sacco and Vanzetti case."Choice
Between 1931 and 1932, painter Ben Shahn created a series of twenty-three gouaches and temperas on the infamous trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested in 1920 for the murder of a guard during a robbery of a shoe factory in Massachusetts. The two men were Italian immigrants as well as anarchists. Their radicalism and their ethnicity, far more than the ambiguous evidence in the case, became the basis for the prosecution against them. In 1927, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed. Theirs was one of the most controversial trials of the twentieth century.
Identifying with these men, Ben Shahn returned again and again to this subject. Spanning the early 1930s up through the end of his career, in 1967, he also produced paintings, an ink drawing, three serigraphs, and a mosaic mural on the trial.
From May through August 2001, the Jersey City Museum will present all paintings in existence from the 1931-32 series-17 in all-as a first-time event. Many of Shahn's other Sacco and Vanzetti works will also be displayed.
With its 12 color and 38 black-and-white illustrations, Ben Shahn and "The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti" brings the exhibit-and the trial-to life. The catalog will include articles exploring such topics as the artist's identification with the two men on trial; the 1930-32 series's critical reception from the 1930s to today; and a historical overview of the case itself.
Alejandro Anreus is a curator for the Jersey City Museum. He also teaches art history at Kean University.
