1960.677: J.B.'s Blue Satan, for "J.B.: A Play in Verse"

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

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

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