Book Review: The complete graphic works of Ben Shahn

The essence of Shahn

The essential book for Ben Shahn lovers who want a checklist of his work. He was an artist who used various mediums so profusely that it must have been difficult to know what to leave out for this kind of reference book. Prescott has a go and the book is divided into four parts: Prints; Portfolios; Posters and the fourth is further divided into: Miscellaneous reproductions; Greeting cards; Unpublished works; Works published posthumously.

This is not a dry listing though because everything has a reproduction (over three hundred) either mono or color, with a technical caption and a brief summarily about the work. These summaries provide lots of insight into Shahn's creativity and this was the part of the book I enjoyed most. My only disappointment was that nearly all the reproductions could have been a bit bigger on the page.

The back pages have a useful biography, bibliography, institutions that hold Shahn's work, a listing of all the reproductions and an Index.

The complete graphic works of Ben Shahn is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR)

The essential Ben Shahn graphics collection.

Title spread.

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