Shaw, C. (Charles)

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.

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