Description:

Charles Green Shaw
New York, (1892 - 1974)
Untitled, ca.1960
oil on canvas laid on a masonite board
signed lower right.

Biography from Hollis Taggart Galleries (Artists, R-Z):
During his successful painting career, which spanned four decades of modernism, Charles Green Shaw skillfully explored several abstract idioms. A native New Yorker, Shaw's early work was in writing; in the 1920s he contributed to publications including the New Yorker and Vanity Fair.

During travels to Europe from 1929 to 1932, he gained first-hand experience with new developments in modern art, and began to devote himself to painting at this time. Shaw had studied at the Art Students League and with George Luks in the mid-1920s, but he was essentially self-taught.

The style Shaw developed by the early 1930s was a hard-edged, crisply defined interpretation of Cubism, which depicted the geometry of urban architecture. In 1935, Shaw met Albert Eugene Gallatin, collector, painter, and founder of the prominent Gallery of Living Art, which was housed at New York University from 1927 until 1942. Gallatin and Shaw, along with George L. K. Morris, were dubbed the "Park Avenue Cubists," reflecting the group's wealth and social milieu. It was through this association that Shaw first gained prominence in the art world; he had a solo exhibition at the Gallery of Living Art in 1935 (the museum's first solo show devoted to any artist) and served on the Museum of Modern Art's Advisory Committee.

By 1940, Shaw had developed the idea of the "plastic polygon," a pictorial structure based on simplified architectonic and organic shapes combined with a Cubist grid. Shaw worked with variants of this concept in painting and in wood relief constructions. With the exception of a few depictions of simplified, angular figures in the late 1940s, Shaw's work remained essentially non-representational for the rest of his career.

In the early 1950s, he broke away from the hard edges and smooth surfaces that characterized his earlier work, and began exploring effects of surface texture and broader brushstrokes in his compositions. By the middle of the decade and into the 1960s, Shaw employed very bold, slashing brushstrokes that linked his work with Abstract Expressionism. Shaw exhibited with Bertha Schaeffer Gallery nearly every year during the 1960s. He also showed regularly during this period at the Passadoit Gallery, had solo exhibitions at the University of Louisville and the Century Club, and was included in exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Shaw's work is part of most major collections of American Art, including the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among many others.

  • Dimensions: 18 1/2"H x 22 1/2"W(Sight), 21 1/2"H x 25 1/2"W(frame)
  • Medium: oil on canvas laid on a masonite board

Accepted Forms of Payment:

ACH, American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

Shipping and removal are the sole responsibility of the buyer. Shipping is available by request through a third party shipping service, Shipping Saint. Please contact our office if you would like to arrange your own shipping. Buyers will not automatically receive a shipping invoice. You will be sent a separate invoice for shipping once your initial invoice is paid and your items are packed and ready to ship. Shipping is invoiced via Shipping Saint and cannot be combined with your auction invoice.
Shipping Saint can be contacted at [email protected] or via phone, 317-644-6088.
PICKUP: Pickup is by appointment only. Items are subject to storage fees if they are not removed from premises within 10 business days. If items require shipping, arrangements and removal must be completed within 15 business days.

April 26, 2025 11:00 AM EDT
Indianapolis, IN, US

Ripley Auctions

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $199 $20
$200 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $4,999 $200
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $29,999 $1,000
$30,000 + $2,500