Ben Shahn — Lithuanian Artist born on September 12, 1898, died on March 14, 1969

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... (wikipedia)

An amateur is someone who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint. A professional is someone whose wife works to enable him to paint.
I became interested in photography when I found my own sketching was inadequate.
I feel, having the choices I had, I felt I had more control over my own medium than I did over photography.
I've been asked a great deal about the influence I've had with my work and it's impossible to say, you know.
It's pretty hard to measure influence of written or visual material.