Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Profiles a pivotal figure in the history of the Cold War, whose artwork was, paradoxically, taken up by both liberals and conservatives.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This record of Shahn's life and work during a period of anti-Communist hysteria and near paranoia in America is a document of commitment and concern that unites the social, political, and artistic events of a decade. The ``credo of socially relevant content, recognizable form and active political engagement,'' reflecting the optimism of the New Deal, remained an essential part of the artist's life throughout the Cold War's atmosphere of repression and isolationism. Investigated and blacklisted, Shahn remained popular with groups at both ends of the spectrum, representing American art abroad and appealing both to labor organizations and big business collectors. A well-documented work that treats the artist as social critic and art as social action.-- Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum Lib., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

As an example of integrated cultural history, Pohl's book stands as a model. Although Ben Shahn is her subject, the real meat of the book is the careful weaving of Cold War politics, New Deal liberals, labor unions, and the changing art world of the 1950s. As important as Shahn's art were his affiliations, the causes he supported, and his speeches in defense of postwar liberalism as well as "humanitarian" or figurative painting. Tangentially, Pohl shows that abstract expressionism did not take the art world by storm during this period, but that "older," figurative work was shown alongside the new abstract pictures. The early 1950s are presented as a time of turmoil and diversity--when pluralism was acceptable to collectors and critics. Pohl's reporting of this artistic climate allows one to reevaluate S. Guilbaut's How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art (CH, May '84), which viewed abstract expressionism as the apolitical response to Cold War politics, a response that took New York by storm after WW II. Pohl's book can also be seen as a sequel to Cecile Whiting's Antifascism in American Art (CH, Sep '89), and it is highly recommended to all libraries. J. Barter Amherst College