Bernarda Bryson Shahn facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bernarda Bryson Shahn
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Bernarda Bryson Shahn in 1960
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Bernarda Bryson
March 7, 1903 |
| Died | December 13, 2004 (aged 101) Roosevelt, New Jersey, United States
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| Known for | Painting, Lithography, Illustration |
| Spouse(s) | Ben Shahn (m. 1935; 3 children) |
Bernarda Bryson Shahn (born March 7, 1903 – died December 13, 2004) was an American artist. She was known for her paintings and prints. Bernarda also wrote and drew pictures for children's books, including The Zoo of Zeus and Gilgamesh. She was married to the famous artist Ben Shahn.
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About Bernarda's Life
Bernarda Bryson was born in Athens, Ohio. Her father owned a newspaper, and her mother was a Latin professor. Both of her parents were very involved in social issues and believed in fairness for everyone.
In Ohio, Bernarda studied art at several schools. She learned about etching, art history, and how to make prints called lithographs. She got married when she was young, but later divorced.
After her divorce, Bernarda worked for a newspaper in Columbus, Ohio. She wrote about art news and taught printmaking at the Columbus Museum of Art.
Meeting Ben Shahn
In 1932 or 1933, Bernarda traveled to New York. She went to interview Diego Rivera, a famous artist who was painting murals. There, she met Ben Shahn, who was helping Rivera.
Soon after, Bernarda moved to New York and reconnected with Ben Shahn. They moved to Washington, D.C., and had three children together. They eventually made their home in Roosevelt, New Jersey. Bernarda lived a very long life and passed away at her home in Roosevelt when she was 101 years old.
Bernarda's Art Career
Bernarda was already a skilled printmaker. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, she worked on a special project. This project was for the Resettlement Administration, which later became part of the Farm Security Administration.
Documenting Rural Life
Bernarda and Ben Shahn worked together to create art that showed what life was like in the countryside. She made lithographs, which are a type of print. These prints were first made in a studio that she and Shahn set up in Washington. Her full collection of these prints was published in 1995 as The Vanishing American Frontier.
Public Art Projects
In 1939, Bernarda and Ben Shahn created 13 large paintings, called murals. These murals were for a government art project. They were inspired by a poem called "I See America Working" by Walt Whitman. The murals were placed in the United States Post Office–Bronx Central Annex.
Illustrator and Painter
Starting in the 1940s, Bernarda worked mainly as an illustrator. She drew pictures for popular magazines like Harpers, Life, Seventeen, and Scientific American. Later, she illustrated several children's books.
Bernarda continued to paint throughout her life. Her paintings often showed people and had ideas from Classical mythology, which are old stories about gods and heroes. Her artwork was shown in art galleries in New York and New Jersey. Some of her paintings are now part of important art collections, like the Whitney Museum of Art.
Images for kids
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Resettlement Administration poster by Bernarda Bryson Shahn (c. 1936)
See also
In Spanish: Bernarda Bryson Shahn para niños
