Rendezvous with Ben Shahn

I found a few nice buys on a recent outing to the Community Thrift Store with my wife and her sister. One was a stupid non-ironic t-shirt with a family of white-tigers lounging in the jungle, another was a blue striped polo shirt worn by some senior citizen in 1983, next was an amazingly illustrated Family Health book, and the last was a true thrift-SCORE.

It’s a copy of Eric F. Goldman’s Rendezvous with Destiny:A History of Modern American Reform. WOW! I’m sure you’re reeling with excitement, just as I was when I saw the title! What could make for a better summer read than a commentary on American political reform written in 1955? OK. Honestly? I looked at the cover and was immediatly willing to throw down 44 cents on this amazing bookcover. The title is in this fantastic hand-rendered lettering which is clearly by the same hand that drew a striped, minimal, yet messy eagle. 

Then below the eagle, I saw a signature that I was almost certain said Ben Shahn, or something like that. HEY I know that name! He did the… poster? Of the… uh… I KNOW THAT NAME.

Of course Shahn is most widely known for his disturbing depiction of Nazi brutality in this poster. But there are many other great works that I’ve stared at for hours in my Meggs’ History of Graphic Design attributed to Shahn. And you can see many of them at the Art Directors Hall of Fame.

Enough with the bloggery, here are the pictures:

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