From 1929 to 1932 Shaw traveled Europe where he became inspired by the European Modernists and devoted himself to painting. Upon his return to New York he, along with fellow modernists Albert Eugene Gallatin and George L.K. Morris, dubbed themselves the “Park Avenue Cubists.” A founding member of the American Abstract Artists and participant on the Museum of Modern Art New York’s Advisory Board in the late 1930s, Shaw was committed to promoting and supporting the work of fellow artists of the period.

Shaw’s first solo exhibition was held at the Valentine Gallery in 1934 and the year following he exhibited at the Gallery of Living Art at New York University. The content of his work developed from organic shape and nonrepresentational form of the 1940s to the incorporation of surface texture in the 1950s. His work is held in the major American art collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

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