Charles Green Shaw papers, 1686, 1833-1979, bulk, 1909-1974

• Collection Summary
• More about the Collection

View all 62 Image Gallery items from this collection

A Finding Aid to the Charles Green Shaw Papers, 1686, 1833-1979, bulk 1909-1974, in the Archives of American Art, by Catherine S. Gaines

Download PDF Version of this page

Table of Contents:

• Biographical Information
• Overview of the Collection
• How to Use the Collection
• Detailed Description and Container Inventory

Biographical Information

A significant figure in American abstract art, Charles Green Shaw (1892-1974) enjoyed a varied career as a writer, illustrator, poet, modernist painter, and collector. Born to a wealthy family and orphaned at a young age, Charles and his twin brother were raised by their uncle, Frank D. Shaw. At age nine, he was already an avid painter and had illustrated his first book, The Costumes of Nations.

After Shaw's 1914 graduation from Yale, he attended the Columbia University School of Architecture. In the years before World War I he worked briefly in the real estate business, but was primarily occupied as a member of café society. During the war he was a pilot stationed in England with the American Expeditionary Force's aero squadron.

As a young man, Shaw decided to become a writer and devoted his time and attention to this endeavor for a decade. In the 1920s, Shaw spent extended periods living and writing in London and Paris, and contributed many pieces to publications such as The New Yorker, Smart Set, Vanity Fair and Town & Country. Two of Shaw's novels, Heart In a Hurricane (1927) and The Low Down (1928), were published during this period. His play What Next! was produced in New York in 1928, but its run was brief. Later, he published New York – Oddly Enough (1938), and wrote and illustrated children's books including The Giant of Central Park (1940) and It Looked Like Spilt Milk (1947), in addition to illustrating several more books by other children's authors.

A highly accomplished poet partial to haiku and cinquain, Shaw published three volumes of poetry: Image of Life (1962), Into the Light (1959), and Time Has No Edge (1966). More than 1500 of his poems appeared in numerous American and European poetry magazines. He received the Michael Strange Poetry Award in 1954, and was a member of the Poetry Society (London), American Poets Fellowship Society, and North American Poets.

Shaw studied at the Art Students League in 1926 under Thomas Hart Benton and as a private pupil of George Luks. He became aware of abstract art and its various movements while traveling in Europe in the 1920s. When he began painting seriously in the early 1930s, Shaw drew from what he had seen and learned of modernism in Paris to develop his own style that incorporated American themes and technology. His earliest modern work was in the cubist vein. He constructed Arp-influenced wooden reliefs and the plastic polygon series (1933-1939) that foreshadowed shaped paintings developed by the next generation. Shaw's paintings progressed to hard edged abstractions and a return to figurative work in the 1940s was followed by abstract expressionism. Shaw had few connections with other New York artists, although he was well acquainted with A. E. Gallatin and George L. K. Morris and was a member of American Abstract Artists from its inception.

His first solo exhibition was at Valentine Gallery in 1934; in the following year he had a one man show at Gallatin's Museum of Living Art. Shaw was among the artists included in Gallatin's 1936 show, "Five Contemporary American Conceretionists," originating at the Rienhardt Gallery and then traveling to Galérie Pierre in Paris, and Mayer Gallery in London. He exhibited widely and was represented by Passedoit Gallery and Bertha Schaefer Gallery. Shaw's work can be found in major museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of art, Guggenheim Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, and San Francisco Museum.

Around 1945, Shaw began creating approximately 600 montages that included collage and incorporated early prints, dice, antique playing cards, pipes, and fabrics arranged in shadow boxes. Though many of the montages decorated his apartment, they were never exhibited publicly during his lifetime.

Shaw was an avid collector. Among his collections were antique playing cards; figures, folk art, and implements relating to tobacco; tinsel prints, particularly of theatrical figures; prints and paper ephemera relating to the London theater; horse brasses; and antique police truncheons. In addition, Shaw was an authority on Lewis Carroll about whom he wrote a number of articles.

Charles Green Shaw died in New York City in 1974.

Return to top

Overview of the Collection

Scope and Contents

The collection measures 45.6 linear feet and and documents the life of American abstract artist, writer, poet, and illustrator Charles Green Shaw. The papers date from 1833-1979 with the bulk of the material spanning 1909-1974 and a single item of ephemera dating from 1686. Shaw's personal life and career are well documented through biographical information, correspondence, writings, extensive diaries and sketchbooks, scattered financial records, scrapbooks and other printed materials.

Series 1: Biographical Information includes a number of family documents. Shaw's correspondence in Series 2 consists mainly of incoming letters from friends and a small amount of correspondence from notable individuals including Adele Astair, Clarence and Ruby Darrow, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John D. Graham, Anita and John Loos, H. L. Mencken, Robert C. Osborn, Cole Porter, Carl Van Vechten and Walter Winchell. The series also includes some nineteenth century family correspondence.

Among Shaw's writings in Series 3 are 145 diaries containing daily one-page entries that outline his daily schedule. In addition, there are drafts and final manuscripts of fiction, non-fiction, plays, and poems, as well as quizzes devised for his newspaper column, and short writings for magazines. Notes include travel observations, notes on restaurants and nightclubs, notes for fiction, quotations, and lists of his collections. Writings by other authors on a variety of topics include children's books illustrated by Shaw, a review of Shaw's poetry, and an article about Shaw as a modern painter.

Artwork by Shaw in Series 4 includes collages, drawings, and paintings. Of particular interest are 340 sketchbooks containing sketches and finished drawings in pencil and ink, watercolor and gouache paintings, pastels and collages. Among the artwork by other artists is a charcoal portrait, probably of Shaw, by Betty George.

Series 5: Financial Records, consists mainly of banking records, tax returns, and royalty statements. Also included is information about art sales and payment for writings; receipts are for art related expenses and document purchases for Shaw's collection of tobacco figures.

Series 6: Scrapbooks (37 volumes) documents Shaw's entire career. Five volumes concern his art and exhibitions, 9 volumes preserve his published writings, 20 volumes contain published poems, and an additional 5 volumes are devoted to miscellaneous subjects.

Additional printed matter in Series 7: Printed Material, consists of items by Shaw, by other authors, and miscellaneous material. Items by Shaw includes articles, books by and/or illustrated by Shaw, plays, and poems. Printed material by other authors includes pieces about or mentioning Shaw, books, exhibition catalogs and related records, and periodicals. Among the miscellaneous printed material are auction and book catalogs, clippings, and ephemera. Also included are a wide assortment of menus, along with theatrical memorabilia, travel brochures and printed souvenirs collected by Shaw.

Series 8: Miscellaneous Records, consists of a variety of artifacts including the Century Association Art Committee Medal awarded Shaw, a letter opener carved with his monogram, and printing plates for color reproductions of a painting by Shaw and of prints in his collection. Other miscellaneous records are two sound recordings, a tape recording of Shaw reading his poetry, and an unidentified phonograph album.

Series 9: Photographs includes photos of artwork, people, places and miscellaneous subjects. Artwork depicted here is mainly by Shaw, but there are also photographs of work by other artists, and of items in Shaw's collections of tinsel prints and tobacco figures, as well as views of various exhibition installations.

Arrangement and Series Description

The collection is arranged as 9 series:

• Series 1: Biographical Information, 1874-1970 (Boxes 1, 46, OV 50; 0.2 linear ft.)
• Series 2: Correspondence, 1833-1973 (Boxes 1-3; 2.5 linear ft.)
• Series 3: Writings, 1910-1971 (Boxes 3-20, 46; 17.5 linear ft.)
• Series 4: Artwork, 1929-1974 (Boxes 21-30, 47-47, OV51; 10.15 linear ft.)
• Series 5: Financial Records, 1933-1971 (Boxes 30-31; 0.65 linear ft.)
• Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1922-1970 (Boxes 31-34, 46; 3.2 linear ft.)
• Series 7: Printed Material, 1686-1979 (Boxes 34-41, 46; 7.6 linear ft.)
• Series 8: Miscellaneous Records, circa 1890s-circa 1970s (Box 42, packages 53-54; 0.35 linear ft.)
• Series 9: Photographs, 1885-circa 1970 (Boxes 42-46, OV 53; 3.45 linear ft.)

Subjects and Names

Provenance

Charles Green Shaw bequeathed his scrapbooks to the Archives of American Art in 1974. The remaining papers were a gift of his estate in 1975.

How the Collection was Processed

Several items in the collection were microfilmed at some point after receipt on microfilm reel 75. The collection was processed by Catherine S. Gaines in August 2005.

How to Use the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.

Ownership & Literary Rights

The Charles Green Shaw papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Available Formats

A few photographs of Shaw's paintings, exhibition catalogs, and his published children's book It Looked Like Spilt Milk, are available on microfilm reel 75.

How to Cite this Collection

Charles Green Shaw papers, 1686, 1833-1979, bulk 1909-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Return to top

Detailed Description and Container Inventory

Series 1: Biographical Information, 1874-1970 (Boxes 1, 46, OV 50; 0.2 linear ft.)

Family documents consist of receipts for stock purchases and dividends paid and Shaw's father's passport; also included are his uncle, Frank D. Shaw's, diplomas and reports to the Larchmont Yacht Club.

Biographical information is arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically within folders.

Series 2: Correspondence, 1833-1973 (Boxes 1-3; 2.5 linear ft.)

The series is arranged as 2 subseries:

• 2.1: Charles Green Shaw, 1909-1973
• 2.1: Family Correspondence, 1833-1888

2.1: Charles Green Shaw, A-Z, 1909-1973

Charles Green Shaw's correspondence documents his personal and professional life. It consists mainly of incoming letters with some drafts and a few carbon copies of outgoing letters. While Shaw was away at school, in the service during World War I, and during extended stays in England and France soon after the War and in the early 1930s, his uncle and brother wrote frequently of everyday life at home. Letters from friends and acquaintances provide a glimpse of Shaw's life as a "man about town" as do many surviving love letters. Other correspondence concerns his careers as an artist, writer and illustrator.

The alphabetized portion of Shaw's correspondence includes a small amount of correspondence with individuals of note, among them Adele Astair, Clarence and Ruby Darrow, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John D. Graham, Anita and John Loos, H. L. Mencken, Robert C. Osborn, Cole Porter, Carl Van Vechten, and Walter Winchell.

Many of Shaw's sketchbooks arranged in Series 4 also contain drafts of letters.

The majority of the correspondence is arranged chronologically, though a much smaller quantity of correspondence with notable individuals has been separated and is arranged alphabetically.

2.2: Family Correspondence, 1833-1888

Correspondence found here primarily concerns business and family matters. Correspondents represented are Charles G. Shaw, Sr. and Jr.(Shaw's grandfather and father), David Shaw, Frank Shaw, George W. Shaw, and Sallie Carr Shaw (Shaw's grandmother).

Series 3: Writings, 1910-1971 (Boxes 3-20, 46; 17.5 linear ft.)

The series is arranged as 2 subseries:

• 3.1: Writings By Shaw, 1910-1971
• 3.2: Writings By Other Authors, 1911-circa 1969

3.1: Writings by Shaw, 1910-1971

Writings by Shaw include diaries, fiction and non-fiction, notes, plays, poems, quizzes, and short writings. The diaries (145 volumes) contain daily one-page entries that note rising and bedtimes, hours spent writing or painting, social engagements and business appointments. People are usually identified by initials only. Among the notes are notebooks (17 volumes) that include travel observations, notes on restaurants and nightclubs, notes for fiction and miscellaneous notes such as journal entries and quotations. Quizzes were featured in Shaw's newspaper column. Short writings were mainly "fillers" for magazines; these often consist of lists of details about various subjects or events. Some of the manuscripts, specifically children's stories, are illustrated with drawings and gouache paintings; those for books about Boston, London, New York and Paris are illustrated with photographs.

3.1.1: Diaries, 1922-1970

3.1.2: Fiction, circa 1920s-circa 1970

3.1.3: Miscellaneous Writings, 1910-circa 1970

Speeches include a salutatory to the Berkeley-Columbia Class of 1910; an untitled talk on illustration read before the American Women's Association, 1941; and an undated talk about Shaw's book, "Heart in a Hurricane."

3.1.4: Non-Fiction, circa 1920s-circa 1970

3.1.5: Notebooks, 1923-1963

Notes for Fiction include Volume 3, Notes for a Novel, 1920s; Volume 4, "A Notebook," No. 1, circa 1926; Volume 5, "A Notebook," No. 2, 1926-1927; Volume 6, "A Notebook," 1930-1931; and Volume 7, "Note Book," 1931.

Travel Notebooks include Volume 8, Austria; Volume 9, "Notes on Berlin," undated; Volume 10, "London," (including notes on Paris), 1929-1930; Volume 12, "London Notes: Restaurants and Nightclubs," 1930; Volume 13, "Notes on London," 1931; Volume 14, London Restaurants; Volume 15, London; Volume 16, Paris; and Volume 17, Rome.

3.1.6: Notes, 1939-1971

3.1.7: Plays, circa 1920s-circa 1960s

3.1.8: Poems, circa 1920s-1971

3.1.9: Quizzes, circa 1920s-circa 1960s

3.1.10: Short Writings, circa 1920s-circa 1960s

3.2: Writings by Other Authors, 1911-circa 1969

Writings by other authors on a variety of topics include a children's book illustrated by Shaw, a review of Shaw's poetry, and an article about Shaw as a modern painter.

Series 4: Artwork, 1929-1974 (Boxes 21-30; 47-49, OV 51; 10.15 linear ft.)

This series is organized into 2 subseries:

• 4.1: Artwork By Shaw, 1929-1974
• 4.2: Artwork By Other Artists, 1941-circa 1956

4.1: Artwork by Shaw, 1929-1974

Artwork by Shaw consists mainly of sketchbooks (340 volumes) that contain sketches and finished drawings in pencil and ink, watercolor and gouache paintings, pastels, and collages. Most volumes include notes on color, and many also contain poems, drafts of letters, and notes on miscellaneous topics. In addition, there are loose drawings in charcoal, pencil, and ink, as well as paintings in gouache and watercolor, and a small number of collages including a few photo collages. Shaw's writings (Series 3) include a number of manuscripts illustrated with drawings and gouache paintings.

4.2: Artwork by Other Artists, 1941-circa 1956

Series 5: Financial Records, 1933-1971 (Boxes 30-31; 0.65 linear ft.)

Financial records consist primarily of banking records, tax returns, and royalty statements. Records of art sales document sales for Shaw and other artists. Art-related receipts document activities such as shipping and framing.

In addition to the financial records found in this series, a few records concerning the investments of Shaw's father, Charles Green Shaw, Jr., can be found in the family documents of Series 1: Biographical Information.

Records are arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically within folders.

Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1922-1970 (Boxes 31-34; 3.2 linear ft.)

A total of 37 volumes document Shaw's art career and exhibitions, published writings, published poems, and miscellaneous subjects. Published writings primarily comprise prose with a few poems. Records relating to miscellaneous subjects document publicity for New York - Oddly Enough, published by Shaw in 1938, through correspondence and reviews and also include notes and clippings related to "The Question Is," a New York Sun column written by Shaw. Other subjects are documented in notes, clippings and printed material.

Scrapbooks are arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically thereafter.

Series 7: Printed Material, 1686-1979 (Boxes 34-41, 46; 7.6 linear ft.)

Printed material by Shaw consists of articles, books written or illustrated by him, plays, and poems. Items by other authors are books, exhibition catalogs, plays, periodicals, and poems. Among the miscellaneous printed material are auction and book catalogs, clippings, and ephemera. Also included are a wide assortment of menus, along with theatrical memorabilia, travel brochures and printed souvenirs collected by Shaw.

Additional printed material can be found in Series 6: Scrapbooks.

This series is organized into 3 subseries. Material is arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically within folders.

• 7.1: Printed Material By Shaw, 1917-1972
• 7.2: Printed Material By Other Authors, 1895-1979
• 7.3: Miscellaneous Printed Material, 1686-1969

7.1: Printed Material By Shaw, 1917-1972

7.2: Printed Material By Other Authors, 1895-1979

7.3: Miscellaneous Printed Material, 1686-1969

Series 8: Miscellaneous Records, circa 1890s-circa 1970s (Box 42 and packages 53-54; 0.35 linear ft.)

Printing plates include 4 plates of a color reproduction of a painting by Shaw and 1 of a title text for "Up in Arms." Prints in Shaw's collection include 2 sets of 4 plates in 2 wrapped packages with 2 and 4 prints respectively in each set of 4. The letter opener inscription reads "John Davis Somerset Bermuda 1959."

Records are arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically within folders.

Series 9: Photographs, 1885-circa 1970 (Boxes 42-46, OV 52; 3.45 linear ft.; reel 75)

Photographs are of artwork, people, places and miscellaneous subjects. Artwork pictured is mainly by Shaw, but there are also photographs of work by other artists as well as views of various exhibition installations. Photographs of places primarily taken by Shaw on his travels to Europe and around New York and Boston. Earlier views of Algeria and Tunis are in albums that belonged to his uncle, Frank D. Shaw. Among the miscellaneous subjects are boats and items in Shaw's collections of tinsel prints and tobacco figures. This series also contains negatives and slides.

Photographs taken by Shaw to illustrate his writings about Boston, London, New York and Paris appear with some of those manuscripts in Series 3.

The series is arranged as 5 subseries by subject, and chronlogically thereafter.

• 9.1: Artwork, 1930s-1967
• 9.2: People, 1885-circa 1970
• 9.3: Places, 1888-1930s
• 9.4: Miscellaneous Subjects, circa 1920s-circa 1960s
• 9.5: Negatives and Slides, circa 1920s-circa 1970

9.1: Artwork, 1930s-1967

9.2: People, 1885-circa 1970

9.3: Places, 1888-1930s

Travel pictures are unsorted and unidentified and include pictures of Boston, London, New York and Paris. Many of the photographs of Tunisia (belonging to Frank D. Shaw, uncle) are hand colored.

9.4: Miscellaneous Subjects, circa 1920s-circa 1970s

9.5: Negatives and Slides, circa 1920s-circa 1970s

This subseries includes colored slides, black and white negatives and black and white lantern slides. Travel pictures are unsorted and unidentified.