About this artwork
A wealthy New York artist known as one of the “Park Avenue Cubists,” Charles Green Shaw painted Wrigley’s as an advertising pitch to the company, combining abstraction with commercial art. He placed a package of spearmint gum against a series of rectangular forms that resembles the lower Manhattan skyline. Shaw echoed and contrasted the blocky, static shapes of the vertical skyscrapers with the levitating, rotating rectangle of the featured product. Although the advertising firm declined to produce this design, the witty juxtapositions of Shaw’s composition align Wrigley’s gum with the streamlined, modern skyscrapers and the pulse of urban life.
-
Status
- Currently Off View
-
Department
- Arts of the Americas
-
Artist
- Charles Green Shaw
-
Title
- Wrigley's
-
Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
-
Date
- 1937
-
Medium
- Oil on canvas
-
Inscriptions
- Signed l.r.: Shaw
-
Dimensions
- 76.2 × 114.3 cm (30 × 45 in.)
-
Credit Line
- Purchased with funds provided by the Alsdorf Foundation
-
Reference Number
- 1978.417
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.