He is best remembered as the namesake of the legislature's Canwell Committee to investigate communist influence in Washington state, patterned after the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) of the United States Congress.
Like many of his colleagues in the movie business, Ben Barzman was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began an investigation into the motion picture industry.
Influenced by both social realism and European styles, he specialises in historical paintings that insert Mao Zedong into iconic social and political photos of the 20th century - such as the Yalta Conference, the HUAC hearings, and a state procession of the British Queen Mother.
•
In Xinnings "Mao and McCarthy", for example, Mao can be seen attending the HUAC hearings, though he is not being questioned but is rather an observer.
He was subpoenaed by HUAC after John Garfield mentioned during his testimony that Kaplan was a friend of his.
:This is about pacifism-related case that involved Daniel Seeger; for the First-Amendment- and HUAC-related case Seeger v. United States, see Pete Seeger.