An interview of Bernarda Bryson Shahn conducted 1995 July 3, by Pamela J. Meecham, for the Archives of American Art.
Bryson Shahn talks about Ben Shahn's involvement in the Farm Security Administration's photographic project during the 1930s; her and her husband's involvement with socialism, unions, and the Communist Party during the 1930's; the removal of Diego Rivera's mural from Rockefeller Center; changes in Ben Shahn's critical status as a painter -- particularly during the Red Scare, and relative to the rise of Abstract Expressionism; her own career as an illustrator; the Jersey Homesteads and Ben Shahn's mural in Roosevelt, New Jersey; as well as her impressions of Italy and Japan.
Biographical / Historical:
Bernarda Bryson (1903-2004) was a painter from New Jersey. She was the wife of artist Ben Shahn.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassette tapes. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 39 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators. Funding provided by Midtown-Payson Grant.
