id: 378926 accession number: 2020.98.6 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2020.98.6 updated: 2023-03-22 03:05:28.268000 Rilke Portfolio: Beside the Dead, c. 1968. Ben Shahn (American, 1898–1969). Lithograph; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Hawken School 2020.98.6 © Estate of Ben Shahn / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY title: Beside the Dead title in original language: series: Rilke Portfolio series in original language: creation date: c. 1968 creation date earliest: 1963 creation date latest: 1973 current location: creditline: Gift of the Hawken School copyright: © Estate of Ben Shahn / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY --- culture: America, 20th century technique: lithograph department: Prints collection: PR - Lithograph type: Print find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Ben Shahn (American, 1898–1969) - artist * Mourlot Editions - printer --- measurements: state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Signed at lower right, in pencil: Ben Shahn translation: remark: inscription: Watermark: Arches translation: remark: inscription: In folder printed on exterior: XXI translation: remark: inscription: on interior, at left: …must have sat beside the dead in the room with the open window and the fitful noises translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Hawken School, Gates Mills, OH date: footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: March 2, 2020 footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Ben Shahn began his career as a commercial lithographer, where he learned the techniques seen in this print. digital description: This print belongs to a series based on the German writer Rainer Maria Rilke’s autobiographical novel The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, which dealt with the challenge of artistic creation amidst feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and defeat. American artist Ben Shahn used evocative images to suggest rather than directly interpret the poet’s words. wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Prescott, Kenneth W., and Ben Shahn. The Complete Graphic Works of Ben Shahn. 1973. page number: p. 116, fig. 135 url: --- IMAGES