We cordially invite you to "The Currency of Ben Shahn's Public Art," a free webinar happening Tuesday, September 30, 5:00PM PST featuring John Ott in conversation with Laura Katzman, curator of Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity, a retrospective currently on view at the Jewish Museum, New York (May 23- October 26, 2025).
The exhibition examines social realist artist Ben Shahn (1898-1969) and his lifelong commitment to social justice causes, from the New Deal era through the height of the Vietnam War. This thematic and contextual presentation provides the rare opportunity to re-examine Shahn’s responses to the most pressing social and political issues of his time and to recognize their contemporary relevance.
The webinar will focus on the section of the exhibition entitled A New Deal for Art, which addresses the photographs, posters, and murals Shahn created for government agencies such as the Resettlement Administration and the Section of Fine Arts. How did the artist navigate the demands of federal agencies, the needs of his own art and activism, and the larger goals of his social criticism? The program will illuminate the current status of Shahn’s New Deal murals in the context of the Trump administration’s efforts to sell specific government buildings and its drastic staff cuts to the General Services Administration, the official steward that preserves public art in government buildings.
