---
title: "1 Values Believe Quotes By Ben Shahn"
description: "1 Values Believe quotes by Ben Shahn. Plus more from Ben Shahn and more Values Believe sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e9/ben-shahn-10836_art_the-artist-must-operate-on-the-assumptio_2140247.jpg"
---

> [The artist must operate on the assumption that the public consists in the highest order of individual; that he is civilized, cultured, and highly sensitive both to emotional and intellectual contexts. And while the whole public most certainly does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/the-artist-must-operate-on-the-assumption-that-the-public-consists-in/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e9/ben-shahn-10836_art_the-artist-must-operate-on-the-assumptio_2140247.jpg)

## More by Ben Shahn

> [I became interested in photography when I was sharing a studio with Walker Evans, and found my own sketching was inadequate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/i-became-interested-in-photography-when-i-was-sharing-a-studio-with/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [It is an intimately communicative affair between the painter and his painting, a conversation back and forth, the painting telling the painter even as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/it-is-an-intimately-communicative-affair-between-the-painter-and-his/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [An amateur is someone who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint. A professional is someone whose wife works to enable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/an-amateur-is-someone-who-supports-himself-with-outside-jobs-which/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [Art almost always has its ingredient of impudence, its flouting of established authority, so that it may substitute its own authority and its own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/art-almost-always-has-its-ingredient-of-impudence-its-flouting-of/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [The artist is likely to be looked upon with some uneasiness by the more conservative members of society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/the-artist-is-likely-to-be-looked-upon-with-some-uneasiness-by-the/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [Only an individual can imagine, invent, or create. The whole audience of art is an audience of individuals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/only-an-individual-can-imagine-invent-or-create-the-whole-audience-of/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [To abstract is to draw out the essence of a matter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/to-abstract-is-to-draw-out-the-essence-of-a-matter/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [The natural reaction of the artist will be strongly towards bringing man back into focus as the center of importance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/the-natural-reaction-of-the-artist-will-be-strongly-towards-bringing/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [Each artist comes to the painting or sculpture because there he can be told that he, the individual, transcends all classes and flouts all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/each-artist-comes-to-the-painting-or-sculpture-because-there-he-can/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [All art is based on non-conformity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/all-art-is-based-on-non-conformity/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [I was primarily interested in people, and people in action, so that I did nothing photographically in the sense of doing buildings for their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/i-was-primarily-interested-in-people-and-people-in-action-so-that-i/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [I remember traveling around in Arkansas with Senator Robinson, and I told him what this little trick was. He felt very much part of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/i-remember-traveling-around-in-arkansas-with-senator-robinson-and-i/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [I became interested in photography when I found my own sketching was inadequate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/i-became-interested-in-photography-when-i-found-my-own-sketching-was/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [We tried to present the ordinary in an extraordinary manner. But that's the paradox because the only thing extraordinary about it was that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/we-tried-to-present-the-ordinary-in-an-extraordinary-manner-but-that/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

> [Being an artist is not only what you do, but how you live your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shahn/being-an-artist-is-not-only-what-you-do-but-how-you-live-your-life/)

[Ben Shahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shahn/)

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