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Welders

Ben Shahn American, born Lithuania
1943
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
As the government’s focus shifted to defense efforts during World War II, it gradually disbanded WPA programs, officially closing the administration in 1943. Many former WPA artists went on to find employment through other public ventures. Shahn worked for the graphics division of the CIO-PAC—the country’s first political action committee, which had been established to sidestep new restrictions on the financial contributions unions could make to political campaigns. Welders, which invokes racial solidarity in the workforce, was reproduced as a poster that read, “for full employment after the war, register [to] vote.”

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Welders
  • Artist: Ben Shahn (American (born Lithuania), Kaunas 1898–1969 New York)
  • Date: 1943
  • Medium: Gouache on board
  • Dimensions: 22 × 39 3/4 in. (55.9 × 101 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase, 1944
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints