Exhibition Guide
Six
Audio
Looking at tough imagery
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Art Object Info
Ben Shahn, a noted social realist artist, frequently addressed the concerns of the workingman in his paintings, drawings, and public murals. Here, rendered in a harsh palette, six schematized figures are seated in a row. With tightly clasped hands, they seem to be waiting for something in an atmosphere of palpable tension. The meaning of Shahn’s surreal image is not immediately apparent. However, he left a clue in illustrations he made for an article published in Harper’s Magazine (April 1952). “The Pirates’ Nest of New York” exposed the plight of longshoremen working at the port of New York City, which did approximately $7 billion worth of import/export business annually. Woefully underpaid, the longshoremen labored under forced kickbacks, loan-sharking, and other modes of extortion. All were covered up by a code of silence imposed by corrupt union bosses in league with businessmen, politicians, and criminals. One of Shahn’s illustrations shows a similar row of longshoremen waiting for the “shape”—the daily formation of a work crew. Only those who had an inside track with the union bosses were hired. Two years after Shahn painted Six, the issue of corruption at the docks exploded in the Hollywood megahit, On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint. The painting retains its original frame.
Art Object Info
Ben Shahn, a noted social realist artist, frequently addressed the concerns of the workingman in his paintings, drawings, and public murals. Here, rendered in a harsh palette, six schematized figures are seated in a row. With tightly clasped hands, they seem to be waiting for something in an atmosphere of palpable tension. The meaning of Shahn’s surreal image is not immediately apparent. However, he left a clue in illustrations he made for an article published in Harper’s Magazine (April 1952). “The Pirates’ Nest of New York” exposed the plight of longshoremen working at the port of New York City, which did approximately $7 billion worth of import/export business annually. Woefully underpaid, the longshoremen labored under forced kickbacks, loan-sharking, and other modes of extortion. All were covered up by a code of silence imposed by corrupt union bosses in league with businessmen, politicians, and criminals. One of Shahn’s illustrations shows a similar row of longshoremen waiting for the “shape”—the daily formation of a work crew. Only those who had an inside track with the union bosses were hired. Two years after Shahn painted Six, the issue of corruption at the docks exploded in the Hollywood megahit, On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint. The painting retains its original frame.