About the Object
This shaped canvas is reminiscent of a stepped skyscraper painted in red, white, blue, black, and grey rectangular forms. Diagonal cuts of the forms on the edges of the composition impart a sense of depth, allowing the blue to read as sky rather than architecture.
Additional Information
Two works from the same year illustrate the range of Shaw’s work. In Wrigley’s a city skyline made up of boxy forms seems to emerge from water, with a trompe l’oeil image of a pack of Wrigley’s gum floating in front, while Relief, a painted wood relief, features carved biomorphic forms that seem to dance across the composition, both in the Art Institute of Chicago.
The Artist;
[Zabriskie Gallery, New York];
Mr. Bernard F. Curry, Palm Beach, Florida, by 1973;
[Washburn Gallery, New York]
Mr. and Mrs. Rolf Weinberg, Zurich, Switzerland, by 1980;
[Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York];
Terra Museum of American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1986;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York];
Southwestern Bell Corporation Collection, Houston, TX, 1988.
[Washburn Gallery, New York];
[Snyder Fine Art, New York];
Judith-Anne Corrente, New York, 1993;
[Snyder Fine Art, New York];
[Elizabeth Moore Fine Art, LLC., New York];
The Michael Sharf Family Collection, 2003-2019;
[Christie’s New York, May 22, 2019, sale no. 17034, lot 5];
New York. Zabriskie Gallery. Geometric Abstractions of the 1930s, June 1-July 14, 1972, no. 19.
Chicago. Museum of Contemporary Art. Post-Mondrian Abstraction in America, March 12-May 13, 1973, n.p., illustrated (as Untitled).
New York. Washburn Gallery. Charles Shaw: Work from 1935-1942, December 2, 1975-January 10, 1976.
Ridgefield, Connecticut. The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Charles Shaw: Perspective, June 5-August 7, 1977.
Winterthur, Switzerland. Kunst Museum; Hannover, Germany. Kestner Gesselschaft; Ludwigshafen, Germany. Wilhelm Hack Museum. Rot konstruiert“ und „Super Table“: Eine Schweizer Sammlung Moderner Kunst 1909-1939, March 2, 1980-August 17, 1980, p. 126.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art; San Francisco, California. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis Institute of Arts; New York, Whitney Museum of American Art. Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America, 1927-1944, November 5, 1983-September 9, 1984, pp. 136, 218-19, 243, no. 126, illustrated.
New York. Washburn Gallery. The Park Avenue Cubists, July 21-August 30, 1985.
Brooklyn, New York. The Brooklyn Museum; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art; Atlanta, Georgia. The High Museum of Art. The Machine Age in America, 1918-1941, October 17, 1986-February 14, 1988, pp. 243, 245, fig. 7.50, illustrated.
New York. Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc. New York Cubists: Works by A.E. Gallatin, George L.K. Morris, and Charles G. Shaw from the Thirties and Forties, January 16-February 27, 1988, pp. 36, 50, no. 74, cover illustration.
València, Spain. Centre Julio González, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern. Paris 1930: Arte Abstracto, Arte Concreto: Cercle et Carré, September 20-December 2, 1990, pp. 299, 364, no. 244, illustrated.
New York. Snyder Fine Art. The Uses of Geometry: Then and Now, October 29-December 4, 1993, p. 15, illustrated.
New York. Snyder Fine Art. 1937-American Abstract Art, September-October 1995, p. 19, cover illustration.
New Jersey, Montclair. Montclair Art Museum. Passionate Pursuits: Hidden Treasure of the Garden State, September 29, 1996-January 5, 1997.
New York. Snyder Fine Art. Modern American Masterworks, September 13-October 26, 2002.
New York. New York University, Grey Art Gallery; Andover, Massachusetts. Phillips Academy, Addison Gallery of American Art; Gainesville, Florida. University of Florida, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. The Park Avenue Cubists: Gallatin, Morris, Frelinghuysen and Shaw, January 14-November 30, 2003, pp. 8, 76, 94, pl. i, cover illustration.
Neff, T.A., ed. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art: Selections from the Collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and the Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1987, p. 286, illustrated.
Stavitsky, Gail. “New York Cubists: Works by A.E. Gallatin, George L.K. Morris and Charles G. Shaw.” Arts Magazine, vol. 62, no. 8, April 1988, pp. 83-84, cover illustration.
Glueck, Grace. “American Modernism Goes Uptown; Brickwork and Poetic License.” The New York Observer, October 23, 1995, illustrated.
“1937,” ARTnews, January 1996, p. 126, illustrated.
Kramer, Hilton. “Saluting Pioneer Abstractionists.” Art & Antiques, March 2003, pp. 134-35, illustrated.
Adams, S. “Cubists in Love.” Forbes, March 3, 2003, p. 121.
Agee, William C. et al. The Scharf Collection: A History Revealed. New York, 2018, pp. 148-9, 182, illustrated.
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