Historic Mural "The Meaning of Social Security""I feel that the whole Social Security idea is one of the real fruits of democracy. There may be some limitations to my powers of exposition, but at least it is my aim to make the mural a clear and feeling picture of Social Security, and, I hope, one that may be understood by average Americans."
Letter to Edward Bruce
Section of Fine Arts and Painting
July 14, 1941
Ben Shahn built his mural "The Meaning of Social Security" around the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, giving pictorial form to the President's June 8, 1934 address on the Social Security legislation:
The Artist: Ben Shahn
Ben Shahn was born in Kovno, Lithuania in 1898, migrated to the U.S. in 1906, and died in 1969. A son of craftsmen, the artist grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., exposed to both observant Judaism and working-class socialism. Shahn studied at the Art Student's League, New York University, City College of New York, and later at the National Academy of Design. He also took art classes in Paris in the 1920s and traveled throughout Europe and North Africa. As a struggling, politically active painter during the Great Depression, Shahn's first critical recognition came from his controversial Sacco and Vanzetti series (1931-32). This work secured his reputation as a "social realist" devoted to fighting injustice and promoting the human rights of underprivileged peoples. Shahn was prolific in a variety of media: paintings, prints, photographs, posters, drawings, murals, stained glass, and mosaics, gravitating towards work that could reach a wide audience. Today, his work can be found in cultural institutions worldwide.
Restoration and Conservation of the Mural
In 1993 under the close direction of the U.S. General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service, the mural was restored by art conservators, and public access to this significant cultural asset was greatly improved. On October 17, 1995, "The Meaning of Social Security" and the Hearing Room Lobby in the Cohen Building were rededicated to the memory of Ben Shahn and all artists whose works grace federal buildings by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the Voice of America, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. General Services Administration.
Excerpted from brochure written by Guest Curator Laura Katzman, Associate Professor of Art, chair of the Art Department, and director of Museum Studies at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. Full text available upon request from the Office of Public Affairs, 330 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20237; tel. (202) 203-4959, e-mail publicaffairs@ibb.gov.
