Shahn forged his social vision for art during the years of the Depression, and a concern for labor and industry continued to inform his work throughout his career. This is one of four paintings and dozens of drawings that Shahn made of a deadly 1947 mine disaster near Centralia, Illinois. A dying miner lies at the center of the composition, flanked by huddled family members and an escaping worker. A red abstract form, Shahn's depiction of the toxic gasses that killed most of the workers, floats sinisterly at left. Although committed to realism, Shahn expertly makes use of developments in abstract and modern art in his interpretation of the tragic event, as in the hazy, colored background.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Death of a Miner
Artist:Ben Shahn (American (born Lithuania), Kaunas 1898–1969 New York)
Date:1949
Medium:Tempera on paper attached to muslin on wood
Dimensions:30 3/4 x 51 3/4 x 4
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1950
Object Number:50.77
Inscription: Signed (lower right): Ben Shahn
[Downtown Gallery, New York, until 1950; sold to MMA]
New York. Downtown Gallery. "American Art, 1949: New Paintings and Sculpture by Leading American Artists," October 3–22, 1949, no. 19.
New York. Downtown Gallery. "Ben Shahn: Exhibition of New Paintings and Drawings," October 25–November 12, 1949, no. 11.
Urbana. University of Illinois, College of Fine and Applied Arts, Architecture Building. "Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting," February 26–April 2, 1950, no. 122.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in the Metropolitan Museum," June 16–October 29, 1950, unnum. brochure (p. 11; as "The Death of a Miner").
Hempstead, N. Y. Hofstra College. "Metropolitan Museum Masterpieces," June 26–September 1, 1952, brochure no. 52.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Painting, 1754–1954," December 18, 1953–September 1954, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Columbia Bicentennial Exhibition," October 28, 1954–April 18, 1955, no catalogue.
New York. Art Gallery, The American Academy of Arts and Letters and The National Institute of Arts and Letters. "Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members," May 24–June 24, 1956, no. 30.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. "Ben Shahn: A Documentary Exhibition," April 9–May 31, 1957.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art. "Ben Shahn: Paintings and Graphics," July 30–September 10, 1967, no. 45.
San Diego. La Jolla Museum of Art. "Ben Shahn: Paintings and Graphics," October 5–November 12, 1967, no. 45.
Indianapolis. Herron Museum of Art. "Ben Shahn: Paintings and Graphics," December 3, 1967–January 3, 1968, no. 45.
Trenton. New Jersey State Museum. "Ben Shahn: A Retrospective," September 20–November 16, 1969.
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. "Ben Shahn," May 21–July 5, 1970.
Sapporo. Imai Department Store. "Ben Shahn," July 14–26, 1970.
Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art. "Ben Shahn," September 19–October 4, 1970.
San Juan. El Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. "Arte del Siglo Veinte: EE.UU. del Museo Metropolitano de Arte," April 19–May 31, 1974, no. 10.
Jewish Museum, New York. "Ben Shahn: A Retrospective, 1898–1969," October 20, 1976–January 2, 1977, no. 47.
Athens. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia. "Ben Shahn: A Retrospective, 1898–1969," January 27–March 17, 1977, no. 47.
Chicago. Maurice Spertus Museum of Judaica. "Ben Shahn: A Retrospective, 1898–1969," April 11–May 29, 1977, no. 47.
Austin. University Art Museum, University of Texas. "Ben Shahn: A Retrospective, 1898–1969," June 23–August 11, 1977, no. 47.
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Representations of America," December 15, 1977–February 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Leningrad. State Hermitage Museum. "Representations of America," March 15–May 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Minsk, Belarus. Palace of Art. "Representations of America," June 15–August 15, 1978, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Tribute to a Curator: Robert Beverly Hale," November 16, 1978–March 4, 1979, extended to March 18, 1979, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Painting: 1905–1950," April 19–October 7, 1991, no catalogue.
Jewish Museum, New York. "Common Man, Mythic Vision: The Paintings of Ben Shahn," November 8, 1998–March 7, 1999, no. 23.
Huntington, N. Y. Heckscher Museum of Art. "Pollock to Wyeth: The Other Side of the Lens," August 19–October 29, 2000, no catalogue.
T[homas]. B. H[ess]. "Reviews and Previews." Art News 47 (November 1949), p. 44, notes that this painting is based on the Centralia mine disaster of 1947.
Robert M. Coates. "The Art Galleries: Ben Shahn and the French Triumvirate." New Yorker (November 5, 1949), p. 71.
Howard Devree. "Out of Our Times." New York Times (October 9, 1949), p. X9.
Robert Beverly Hale. 100 American Painters of the 20th Century: Works Selected from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1950, ill. p. 85.
Doris Brian. "The Metropolitan's American Policy—A Long View, No Blind Flying." Art Digest 24 (July 1, 1950), p. 22.
Robert Beverly Hale. "American Painting 1754–1954." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12 (March 1954), ill. p. 190.
Dorothy Grafly. "The Weathervane: Two Centuries of American Painting." American Artist 18 (April 1954), p. 42.
Robert Beverly Hale. "The American Moderns." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (Summer 1957), ill. p. 23.
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, p. 113, ill. p. 112.
Erwin O. Christensen. A Guide to Art Museums in the United States. New York, 1968, p. 49, fig. 106.
Henry Geldzahler. Arte del Siglo Veinte: EE.UU. del Museo Metropolitano de Arte/ Twentieth-Century Art: U.S.A. from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., El Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. San Juan, 1974, pp. 28–29, no. 10, ill.
Alfred Werner. "Ben Shahn: The Artist as Social Critic." American Artist 39 (December 1975), p. 52.
Kenneth W. Prescott. Ben Shahn: A Retrospective, 1898–1969. Exh. cat., Jewish Museum. New York, 1976, pp. 22, 69, no. 47, ill. p. 22.
Frances K. Pohl. Ben Shahn: New Deal Artist in a Cold War Climate, 1947–1954. Austin, 1989, p. 70, fig. 22.
Susan Chevlowe. Common Man, Mythic Vision: The Paintings of Ben Shahn. Exh. cat., Jewish Museum, New York. New York, 1998, pp. 17, 179, no. 23, fig. 8.
Howard Greenfeld. Ben Shahn: An Artist's Life. New York, 1998, p. 228.
Phyllis Braff. "Art Reviews: Capturing Creators in Photographs; 'Pollock to Wyeth'." New York Times (October 1, 2000), p. LI16.
Mike McKiernan. "Art and Occupation: Ben Shahn 'Death of a Miner' (1949)." Occupational Medicine 59 (December 2009), pp. 526–27, ill.
Randy Kennedy. "When Art's Muse Worked Up a Sweat." New York Times (September 4, 2015), p. C26.
Kirsten Pai Buick in Allison Rudnick. Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, p. 45, fig. 26 (color).
Ben Shahn (American (born Lithuania), Kaunas 1898–1969 New York)
20th century
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