Charles Green Shaw

Charles Green Shaw (May 1, 1892 – April 2, 1974) was an American painter, poet, writer, and illustrator. Shaw's paintings are part of most major collections of American Art, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Corcoran Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Whitney Museum.

Before turning to art in 1932, Shaw was a prominent writer for The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. He was also a poet, with more than 1,200 published poems. He grew up spending summers in Newport, Rhode Island and Christmas at Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt's balls. He studied architecture at Columbia University from 1914 to 1915. Shaw was, according to Buck Pennington, "the master of the bon mot, the glib remark, the clever definition." In May 1939, he finally found an editor interested in his ideas—Margaret Wise Brown, who would go on to write the children's classic Goodnight Moon. In 1927, he enrolled in Thomas Hart Benton's class at the Art Students League of New York. This group was established when abstract art had not fully won critical respect, and many such artists struggled to find galleries willing to display their work.

Awards Shaw won the Michael Strange Poetry Award in 1954.

When he was 81 years old, Shaw died at his home at 340 East 57th Street in New York City on April 2, 1974 He bequeathed fifty boxes of archival materials to the Smithsonian's American Art Museum. His papers include correspondence with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Clarence Darrow, Anita Loos, H. L. Mencken, and Cole Porter.

Publications

Books Shaw, Charles G. (1927). Heart in a Hurricane. Illustrations by Ralph Barton New York: Brenton's. — (1930) Nightlife, Day. New York: Day — (1930) The Low-Down. New York: Henry Holt. — (1931) Lady by Chance. New York: Macaulay. — (1938) New York—Oddly Enough. New York: Farrar, Rinehart — (1940). The Giant of Central Park. New York: William R. Scott

Children's books

— (1941) The Guess Book. New York: William R. Scott, Inc. — (1942) The Blue Guess Book (and illustrator) New York: William R. Scott — (1947) It Looked Like Spilt Milk. New York: Harper.

Poetry collections

— (1959) Into the Light, Fine Editions — (1962) Image of Life. Poets of America Publishing Co. — (1966) Time Has No Edge: A Poetry Collection. William-Frederick — (1969) Moment of the Now: A Poetry Collection. Profile Press

Essays and reporting

Illustrator

Brown, Margaret Wise (1944) Black and White. Illustrations by Charles G. Shaw. New York: Harper & Brothers. — (1947) Winter Noisy Book. Illustrations by Charles G. Shaw. New York: W. R. Scott. Felton, Harold W. (1971) James Weldon Johnson. Illustrations by Charles G. Shaw. New York: Dodd. McCullough, John G. (1947) Dark is Dark. Illustrations by Charles G. Shaw. New York: W. R. Scott. Pedersen, Elsa (1968) House Upon a Rock. Illustrations by Charles G. Shaw. New York: Atheneum Scott, William Rufus (1951) The Apple that Jack Ate. Illustrations by Charles G. Shaw. New York: W. R. Scott. — (1944) This Is The Milk That Jack Drank. Illustrations by Charles G. Shaw. New York: W. R. Scott. — (1950) This Is the Water That Jack Drank. Illustrations by Charles G. Shaw. New York: W. R. Scott.

Exhibition catalogs