Bernarda Bryson Shahn was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 painter, lithographer and widow of renowned artist Ben Shahn

Ben Shahn

Ben Shahn was a Lithuanian-born American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as The Shape of Content.-Biography:...

, who wrote and illustrated children's books including "The Zoo of Zeus" and "Gilgamesh."

She met her future husband during a trip to New York in 1932. Both of them worked for the Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

-era Resettlement Administration

Resettlement Administration

The Resettlement Administration was a U.S. federal agency that, between April 1935 and December 1936, relocated struggling urban and rural families to communities planned by the federal government....

, later part of the Farm Security Administration

Farm Security Administration

Initially created as the Resettlement Administration in 1935 as part of the New Deal in the United States, the Farm Security Administration was an effort during the Depression to combat American rural poverty...

. In 1939, they produced a set of 13 murals inspired by Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...

's poem I See America Working and installed at the United States Post Office-Bronx Central Annex

United States Post Office-Bronx Central Annex

Bronx Central Annex-U.S. Post Office is a historic post office building located at the Bronx, New York, United States. It was built from 1935 to 1937, and designed by consulting architect Thomas Harlan Ellett for the Office of the Supervising Architect. The building is constructed of smooth gray...

. She continued painting throughout her life, and hosted gallery exhibits from the time her husband died in 1969, to well in her 90s. She died at her home in Roosevelt, New Jersey

Roosevelt, New Jersey

Roosevelt was originally called Jersey Homesteads, and was created during the Great Depression as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal. The town was home to a cooperative farming and manufacturing project...

 at the age of 101

Centenarian

A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only...

.

External links

• Comrades in Art: Bernarda Bryson