Ben Shahn was an American painter, printmaker, photographer, book illustrator and poster designer, who was born in Lithuania in1898 and died in NYC in 1969. He belongs to that school of American artists known as Social Realists, the content of whose work expressed concerns for social justice and progressive politics. They were products of the Great Depression, and many of them, Shahn included, worked with the New Deal programs such as the WPA (from 1935-1938 he worked as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration along with Walker Evans. In the early 1930s Shahn did 23 paintings related to the Sacco and Vanzetti case, and later did several prints on the same theme. During World War II Shahn worked for the Government and designed several powerful anti-fascist and pro-labor posters.