Description

Syracuse University, 1968. Paperback, 85 pp.; 23 x 23 cm; First Edition; illustrated with color plates, black-and-white photographs and line drawings by Ben Shahn. Designed by Stephanie Frisch, Design Center, Syracuse University; distributed by Syracuse University Press. With an essay and commentary by Ben Shahn. In Good+ condition. Glossy illustrated paper covers with mosaic detail of the mural on front; bumping increasing toward edges and corners, small peeling at corner tips and at fore-edge of front cover; mild shelf and edge wear; toning and soiling to rear cover. Binding tight. Pages mildly toned along edges, toning along gutter of front endpapers, otherwise unmarked. A record of The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, the mosaic mural Ben Shahn designed for the facade of Huntington Beard Crouse Hall at Syracuse University, installed in 1967 and his last major work. Martin H. Bush's essay traces the Sacco-Vanzetti case and Shahn's 1931-32 series of paintings on it, first shown by Edith Halpert at the Downtown Gallery, through to the Syracuse commission. Shahn's own essay, "American Painting at Mid-Century," follows. Illustrations include color details of the mosaic, the 1931-32 gouache The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, the watercolor Six Witnesses Who Bought Eels from Vanzetti, the 1958 serigraph Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, United Press International news photographs of the trial and demonstrations, and full-page line drawings from Shahn's collection. Dedicated to the memory of Richard Evans III. Contents: Acknowledgements; The Sacco-Vanzetti Theme; American Painting at Mid-Century; Selected Bibliography; Index.