Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2012

Lithuania-born American artist Ben Shahn (1898-1969) apparently exerted a great influence on Japanese art. He depicted the lives of everyday people in a social-realist style, an approach that had a big impact on 20th-century Japanese painters and designers. This exhibition offers an extensive overview of his career including 200 mixed-media paintings and graphic design creations, as well as 285 photographs taken in the 1930s and during the artist’s 1960 visit to Japan.

Museum of Modern Art, Hayama, until Jan 29 (listing).