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Photography by Edward C. Robison III

Self-Portrait Among Churchgoers

What do you think the man on the left is photographing?

This figure is actually the artist, Ben Shahn, who spent much of the mid-1930s photographing scenes of daily life from Louisiana to New York. His camera was specially equipped to take photographs from the side without his subjects’ awareness. Here we see him in action with his camera in front of a church he photographed a few years earlier in Pennsylvania.

ArtistBen Shahn(1898-1969)
Date1939
MediumTempera on board
Dimensions28 7/8 x 38 1/2 x 1 1/2 in.
Signedl.r.: Ben Shahn verso, l.l.: Ben Shahn
Credit LinePromised Gift to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
ClassificationPainting
On ViewYes
Self-Portrait Among …28.9 × 38.5 in.Tennis Ball2.7 in. diameter

This artwork's face covers about 152× the area of a tennis ball.Drawn to the same scale.