The People's Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art

by Cynthia Levinson, Evan Turk (Illustrator)

Overview

A lyrically told, exquisitely illustrated biography of influential Jewish artist and activist Ben Shahn

A 2022 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Winner
A 2022 Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable Picture Book

“The first thing I can remember,” Ben said, “I drew.”
As an observant child growing up in Lithuania, Ben Shahn yearns to draw everything he sees—and, after seeing his father banished by the Czar for demanding workers’ rights, he develops a keen sense of justice, too.
So when Ben and the rest of his family make their way to America, Ben brings both his sharp artistic eye and his desire to fight for what’s right. As he grows, he speaks for justice through his art—by disarming classmates who bully him because he’s Jewish, by defying his teachers’ insistence that he paint beautiful landscapes rather than true stories, by urging the US government to pass Depression-era laws to help people find food and jobs.
In this moving and timely portrait, award-winning author Cynthia Levinson and illustrator Evan Turk honor an artist, immigrant, and activist whose work still resonates today: a true painter for the people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419741302
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	04/20/2021
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	54,561
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Since she doesn’t draw or paint, Cynthia Levinson tells true stories about brave people, like Ben Shahn, and the injustices they’ve faced through words. She loves doing research, which has allowed her not only to visit Shahn’s studio but also to walk with soldiers of the civil rights movement, fall off a tightwire, and read letters in a condemned building surrounded by police tape. Cynthia’s books for young readers have won many awards. She lives in Austin and Boston. Evan Turk is an Ezra Jack Keats Book Award–winning illustrator, author, and animator. He is the author-illustrator of The Storyteller, You are Home: An Ode to the National Parks, and A Thousand Glass Flowers. He also illustrated Grandfather Gandhi and Muddy, a NYT Best Illustrated Children’s Book. Originally from Colorado, Evan now lives in the Hudson River Valley with his husband and two cats. He is a graduate of Parsons School of Design and continues his studies through Dalvero Academy.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/22/2021

This profile of Jewish artist and activist Ben Shahn, who emigrated from Lithuania to America in 1906, highlights the threads of compassion and social justice that ran through his work. Shahn learned of injustice early in his life, witnessing his father’s banishment to Siberia for “demanding fair pay for working people,” and later experiencing anti-Semitism in America. Leaving school at age 14 to help support his family, Shahn attended art school at night while apprenticed to a lithographer. An unjust execution spurred Shahn’s social realism paintings, attention to which resulted in the U.S. government hiring him to take photographs across America that “revealed hard lives in troubled times.” Bold, richly layered multimedia illustrations by Turk feature abstracted characters in Shahn’s style, while Levinson’s smooth, well-researched narrative provides a comprehensive introduction to a justice-minded painter. Back matter includes an author’s note, an illustrator’s note, a timeline, and selected bibliography. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Levinson’s text moves in a smooth, accessible flow. Turk, a professed devotee of Shahn’s work, is quite possibly the ideal illustrator for this title. . . A marvelous spur to kids beginning to consider the way art can be political."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Levinson skillfully shows the artist’s relatable qualities, such as when young Ben refuses to name names after a classroom prank. Her celebratory text is well-complemented by Turk’s strong and distinctively bold, colorful, mixed-media art... Excellent."

The Horn Book Magazine

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Turk’s expressive paintings with exaggerated features evoke the spirit of Shahn and the artist’s depictions of the immigrant experience, working people, and protests. . . A thoughtful introduction to this social justice artist."

Booklist

★ 2021-03-02
Art and protest meld perfectly in the life of a 20th-century artist.

Born into a family of Jewish artisans in early-20th-century Lithuania, Ben Shahn wanted to draw, but there was no money for paper. Instead, he sketched in the margins of his book of Bible stories. After his father, a labor activist, was exiled to Siberia, the family eventually made their way to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Shahn was teased in school because of his accent but won the bullies over with his drawings. His teachers encouraged his talent. Having to quit school to work, Shahn was able to apprentice to a lithographer and attend art school. There, his teachers told him that “pictures should be beautiful—not real life.” Shahn thought otherwise. He went on to paint 23 pictures of the Sacco-Vanzetti trial and worked for the FDR administration photographing the American “outsiders” who needed relief and painting murals for a new village for garment workers. Despite threats from the FBI during the McCarthy era, Shahn continued to paint protesters and peace lovers. Levinson’s strong narrative is supported by emotive, brilliantly vibrant paintings in gouache, acrylic, pencil, chalk, and linoleum block prints. One triptych offers powerful images of the Shahns immigrating to NYC; it’s followed by scenes of the neighborhood with its jumble of new streets and foods. Well-researched and -sourced, this is a valuable addition to the canon of artist biographies. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 42.4% of actual size.)

This life of an artist with a social conscience makes itself heard. (Yiddish glossary, author's note, illustrator's note, timeline, select bibliography, source notes) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews