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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1960.677
People
Ben Shahn, American (Kovno (now Kaunas), Lithuania 1898 - 1969 New York, NY)
Title
J.B.'s Blue Satan, for "J.B.: A Play in Verse"
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1958
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/308538

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor, tempera, gouache, black chalk, and graphite, with touches of varnish(?) on off-white wove paper mounted to off-white-paper-covered gray board
Dimensions
actual: 59.5 x 39 cm (23 7/16 x 15 3/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: black ink, l.r.: Ben Shahn
  • watermark: UNB[LEACHED ARNOLD]
  • stamp: masonite backing, black ink, stamped: See photocopy in curatorial file
  • gallery label: removed from backing? now in curatorial file, paper, printed and typed: No. 276
  • exhibition label: removed from backing? now in curatorial file, paper, printed and handwritten: no. 23, titled "J. B.'s Blue Satin Mask"
  • gallery label: on backing? photocopy in curatorial file, paper, printed and typed

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Downtown Gallery, New York, New York], sold; to Archibald MacLeish, 1959; gift to the Fogg Art Museum, 1960.

NOTE: Provenance information taken from the Taller Archive.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Archibald MacLeish
Copyright
© Estate of Ben Shahn / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
1960
Object Number
1960.677
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The mask is drawn over two profile heads.

Publication History

  • James Thrall Soby, Ben Shahn: Paintings, Braziller (New York, NY, 1963), pl. 83
  • Bernarda Bryson Shahn, Ben Shahn, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1972), pp. 215-216, pl. 225
  • Kenneth W. Prescott, The Complete Graphic Works of Ben Shahn, Quadrangle (New York, NY, 1973), p. 41

Exhibition History

  • Ben Shahn, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 12/22/1961 - 01/22/1962; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Brussels, 02/01/1962 - 02/28/1962; Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Roma, Rome, 03/31/1962 - 04/20/1962; Albertina Gallery, Vienna, 05/22/1962 - 06/24/1962
  • Ben Shahn Graphics, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, 08/20/1962 - 09/09/1962; Galerije Grada Zagreba, Zagreb, 11/06/1962 - 11/30/1962; Moderna Gallerija, Ljubljana, 12/10/1962 - 01/07/1963; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 02/16/1963 - 03/10/1963; Konsthall, Lund, 03/16/1963 - 04/15/1963; Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem, 05/25/1963 - 06/26/1963
  • 10th Annual Exhibition-- Ben Shahn, Temple Beth El, Portland, 05/01/1971 - 05/31/1971
  • Ben Shahn and the Theatre, Center for the Arts at Purchase, Purchase, 07/01/1982 - 08/08/1982
  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/17/2017 - 01/07/2018

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu