by Adam Gopnik
First published 2025
Ben Shahn stands before his audience at Harvard University, delivering the prestigious Charles Eliot Norton Lectures during the 1956-57 academic year. The Russian-born American painter shares his deeply held beliefs about what it means to be an artist in modern society. Shahn examines how painters, writers, and composers relate to their raw materials and develop their skills. He considers the vital role that community plays in artistic work and grapples with the challenge of communicating through art. Throughout his lectures, Shahn wrestles with the critical frameworks that shape how artists and their audiences understand creative work. His reflections reveal the complex relationship between individual vision and collective responsibility that defines the artist's position in the world.
Genres: biography, art, 20th-century, non-fiction, art-history, academia
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: grappling-with-critical-frameworks, individual-vision-vs-collective-responsibility
Setting: Harvard University
Period: 1956-57
160 pages · Hardcover · Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press