This photo by Walker Evans shows a painting by his contemporary Ben Shahn, which was exhibited at the Downtown Gallery in New York. It is a fine example of Evans' deft ability to photograph artwork in a way that both captures the essence of the piece and stands as an object in its own right.

In the 1930s, the socially-minded American artist Ben Shahn was inspired to paint a series of works based on the story of Tom Mooney, a labor activist who was wrongly-imprisoned for bombing a San Francisco parade. Despite an air-tight alibi, Mooney was sentenced to life in prison, a conviction based on perjured testimony.