Created in 1946, this poster by artist Ben Shahn (1898–1969) addresses a struggle ongoing nearly 80 years later: the fight to meet the basic needs of all Americans. One of 44 artworks by Shahn in the collection of Carleton’s Perlman Teaching Museum, it will be loaned to St. Olaf College for the upcoming Flaten Art Museum exhibition Practicing Democracy: 150 Years of St. Olaf Student Civic Engagement.
The nonpartisan show, on view September through December, will highlight the power of art in fostering civic engagement. “College is a time when students are developing their social consciousness and becoming politically alive to the world,” says Flaten curator and director Jane Becker Nelson. “And so many of them are just beginning their fight, so this message about the endurance of the struggle feels really relevant.”