Ben Shahn (1898-1969) was one of the most popular artists of the 1940s and 1950s. His graphic brilliance, visual and emotional realism, and social conscience attracted an international audience.  

The children of Ben Shahn and his wife, Bernarda, chose Rago Art and Auction Center, in Lambertville, New Jersey, to auction their parents' personal collection of fine art, furniture, decorative art, Asian and ancient/ethnographic artifacts from their home and its adjacent studio.

Highlights in the Shahn sale include artworks by Alfred Henry Maurer, Robert Rauschenberg, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Rufino Tamayo, and Jacob Lawrence as well as furniture by the likes of George Nakashima and antiquities such as a Roman Herm Head, ca. 1st c. AD.

"Much of the art in this auction came to the Shahns directly from artists who were their friends or students," says Rago partner Miriam Tucker. "Many are personally inscribed. So it is at once a very intimate collection and a very public record of the connections among leading artists of mid-century America." 

More than Rothko, more than Pollack, Ben Shahn dominated the public consciousness in mid-century. Further, he achieved enormous institutional success. He was given his first retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1947, an exhibition followed by many more around the world throughout his life. He was selected as one of the "World's Ten Best Artists" by Look magazine in 1948. He represented the United States at the Venice Biennale in 1954, along with Willem de Kooning. Today, his work is in the collections of over 60 leading museums in the U.S. alone, as well as in many private collections.

Ben Shahn and his wife, artist Bernarda Bryson Shahn, lived in historic Roosevelt, New Jersey, a politically progressive, cooperative community founded in 1936 with federal funding. After Shahn's death on March 14, 1969, Bernarda lived on in their home for 35 years.  

The Shahn's Bauhaus home in rural Roosevelt, just east of Princeton, will come to market shortly. The home incorporates two additions, designed and built by George Nakashima in 1960 and 1965, that include a free-edge bench and many other built-ins. Among its many visitors were Albert Einstein, Dorothea Lange, Alfred Barr, Eleanor Roosevelt and Alexander Calder. Inquiries are welcome. Contact Rago partner, Miriam Tucker, at 609-397-9374 or mtucker@ragoarts.com. She will relay the information to the Shahn family. 

The Collection of Bernarda and Ben Shahn will be auctioned Nov. 14.