All art is based on nonconformity ... Without nonconformity we would have had no Bill of Rights or Magna Carta, no public education system, no nation upon this continent, no continent, no science at all, no philosophy, and considerably fewer religions. — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
Every great historic change has been based on nonconformity, has been bought either with the blood or with the reputation of nonconformists. — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
I became interested in photography when I was sharing a studio with Walker Evans, and found my own sketching was inadequate. — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
It is an intimately communicative affair between the painter and his painting, a conversation back and forth, the painting telling the painter even as… — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
An amateur is someone who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint. A professional is someone whose wife works to enable… — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
Art almost always has its ingredient of impudence, its flouting of established authority, so that it may substitute its own authority and its own… — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
The artist is likely to be looked upon with some uneasiness by the more conservative members of society. — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
Only an individual can imagine, invent, or create. The whole audience of art is an audience of individuals. — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
The natural reaction of the artist will be strongly towards bringing man back into focus as the center of importance. — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
Each artist comes to the painting or sculpture because there he can be told that he, the individual, transcends all classes and flouts all… — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
I was primarily interested in people, and people in action, so that I did nothing photographically in the sense of doing buildings for their… — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
I remember traveling around in Arkansas with Senator Robinson, and I told him what this little trick was. He felt very much part of… — Ben Shahn Copy Share Image
