Ben Shahn’s New York: The Photography of Modern Times

Best remembered as a painter and graphic artist, Ben Shahn also left behind a body of photographs driven by the same passionately leftist politics as the rest of his art. His early documentary images, the seldom-seen New York photographs made between 1931 and 1936, capture subjects ranging from protest marches to hand-painted shop signs. The first substantial look at these photos in thirty years, this exhibition brings together 118 images—not counting related ink drawings, paintings, mural studies, and ephemera. Yale University Press promises a full-scale catalogue. Feb. 5–Apr. 30; Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, June 10–Aug. 27; Grey Art Gallery, New York, Nov. 14, 2000–Jan. 27, 2001; Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, Apr. 19–June 17, 2001.