Composition for Clarinets and Tin Horn

1951

Ben Shahn American, 1898-1969

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Catalogue Raisonné

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About the Artwork

In Shahn's paintings we find the satisfaction of seeing the world through the eyes of a sensitive and sincere artist whose interest lies in the realities of human relationships. In his early works Shahn emphasized political and social relationships of man. As his style evolved, he showed a growing interest in a different kind of realism - the realities of man's emotional and spiritual life. Painted in 1951, Composition with Clarinets and Tin Horn represents this new direction in the artist's work. In it he paints the emotional intensity of a figure enveloped in the wailing penetration of the blues. The throbbing intensity of the music is created by the insistent beat of the clarinets arranged in vertical rhythmic pattern interrupted by the shape of the tin horn decorated with gaudy symbols of honky-tonk dance halls. The bowed figure of a man pressing tensely knotted knuckles against his lowered head seems to shrink away from the strident rhythm of the clarinets and horn. -adapted from William E. Woolfenden, Bulletin of the DIA 32, no. 1 (1952-53): 20 (ill.).

Title Composition for Clarinets and Tin Horn

Artwork Date 1951

Artist Ben Shahn

Life Dates 1898-1969

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Tempera on panel

Dimensions Framed: 53 3/4 × 41 3/4 × 3 3/8 inches (136.5 × 106 × 8.6 cm) Overall: 48 × 36 inches (121.9 × 91.4 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department Contemporary Art after 1950

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Friends of Modern Art Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 51.85

Markings

Signed Signed, lower right: Ben Shahn

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

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Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Fanfare 3 (Sept/Oct 1979): (cover ill.).

New Accessions USA. Exh. cat., Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Colorado Springs, 1956, no. 25.

Bulletin of the DIA 32, no. 1 (1952-53): 20 (ill.).

International Exhibition for India. Exh. cat., American Federation of Arts. New York, 1953.

27th Biennale Internazionale D'Arte. 2nd exh. cat., Venice, no. 50 and no. 23.

The Museum and its Friends. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1959, pp. 32, 33, 48.

Perspectives USA Quarterly, no. 1 (Fall 1952): 97.

The Art of Ben Shahn. Exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum. Cambridge, 1957.

Soby, J. T. Ben Shahn Paintings. New York, 1963, p. 132, no. 61 (ill.).

Ben Shahn: A Retrospective Exhibition. Exh. cat., New Jersey State Museum. Trenton, 1969, no. 66 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Ben Shahn, Composition for Clarinets and Tin Horn, 1951, tempera on panel. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Friends of Modern Art Fund, 51.85.