Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
November 1, 2007 to February 7, 2008
Exhibited at the Archives’ New York Research Center
An abstract artist and a passionate advocate of abstraction in America, Charles Green Shaw seemed to live a charmed life. Born into wealth, he reveled in the glamorous social scene of New York in the 1920s. After a successful career writing about that scene for such magazines as The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, he threw himself into painting in his late thirties. The visual rhythms of New York City were the inspiration for his art.
Shaw explored his delights and his passions through a variety of professions: satirical journalist, painter, defender of avant-garde art, children’s book author, and poet. The Charles Green Shaw papers, 1874-1979, donated to the Archives of American Art in 1974, narrate the artist’s journey. More than 50 boxes of journals, letters, sketchbooks, manuscripts, and poems illustrate Shaw’s development as an artist, which paralleled the growth of the New York art scene in the 20th century.
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
Abstract sketch, ca. 1940
Creator: Charles Green Shaw
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
Twilight, between 1935 and 1969
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
Reproduction of Masked harlequin by Charles G. Shaw, 1947
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
Statement, 19--
Creator: Charles Green Shaw
Shaw remained flexible in his definition of art, but he always maintained that the concept preceded the product. For him, this usually resulted in abstraction.
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
Cole Porter, Paris, France letter to Charles Green Shaw, 1926 March
Creator: Cole Porter
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
Drawing of George Jean Nathan by Charles Green Shaw, ca. 1920
George Jean Nathan was a theater critic and co-founder, along with H.L. Mencken, of the magazine The American Mercury, to which Shaw contributed satirical essays. Shaw and Nathan were also close friends. This portrait was Shaw?s first serious art endeavor. His journal entries frequently refer to its progress.
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
John Graham, Brooklyn, N.Y. letter to Charles Green Shaw, 1938 January 24
Creator: John D. (John Dabrowsky) Graham
Shaw?s first solo exhibition garnered attention from the Russian-born modernist painter John Graham. In this letter, Graham writes: ?I appreciate the subtlety of your work and the innovation of cut lines.? Later, Graham sent Shaw his book System and Dialectics of Art (1937), which was an important influence in the development of abstract art.
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
Photograph of the construction of Wrigley building with a pack of Wrigly's gum, between 1920 and 1924
On this photograph of the skyline and a giant Wrigley advertisement, Shaw noted: ?idea for montage.? The resulting 1937 painting is a precursor of the Pop art movement of the 1960s.
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
Are You a New Yorker? questionnaire, ca. 1926
Creator: Charles Green Shaw
In 1926, Shaw wrote a series of quizzes for The New Yorker that demonstrated his command of New York architecture. The column was widely popular, and Shaw kept many of the letters from readers who either enjoyed the quiz or were quick to point out errors.
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
"Recent Paintings by Gallatin, Morris and Shaw", 1939 Jan. 16-Feb. 8
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
It Looked Like Spilt Milk, 1947
Creator: Charles Green Shaw
In this book for children, Shaw uses simple sentences and even simpler pictures to create a guessing game that urges children to use their imaginations when looking at the world around them. Shaw?s white-on-blue illustrations recall the amoeba-like shapes that appear in some of his 1940s paintings.
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
Dorothy Canning Miller, New York, N.Y. letter to Charles Green Shaw, New York, N.Y., 1956 October 9
Creator: Dorothy Canning Miller
Once ignored, by the 1950s American abstract art was no longer considered controversial. In 1956, the museum that once rejected Shaw and his fellow abstractionists purchased a Shaw painting for their permanent collection.
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
Stipple Green, 1967 Aug. 20
Creator: Charles Green Shaw
During the late 1960s, Shaw returned to simple geometric shapes. However, these later paintings are more severe in form, with a reduced color palette and a simplified arrangement of lines.
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Manhattan Modern: The Life and Work of Charles Green Shaw
How Modern is the Museum of Modern Art?, April 15, 1940
Creator: American Abstract Artists
