Anne Raymond

River Swim I, Abstract Seascape Oil Painting, Monotype on Paper, Signed

2019

21.5x17 with mat , 14.5x10.75 without mat. Noted artist and sculptor, Dr. Rene Shapshak was born in Paris, studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris (that produced such giants as Claude Monet and Pierre Renoir), London, Bruxelles, emigrated to South Africa in 1932 or 1934, lived in Johannesburg (47 Saunders Street, Yeoville - where he held art classes for many years), executed numerous commissions, was committee member of the Transvaal Art Society, Johannesburg, 1937; left for the USA in 1954, his wife Eugenie and sons Leon, Maurice and Paul followed in August, 1955, the family staying for years at the famous Chelsea Hotel, with an atelier nearby at 219 7th Ave cor. 23rd St, New York NY. He showed there in a number of exhibits and was a denizen of the hotel along with many other famous artists. The Hotel has collected and displayed the work of many visual artists including Jackson Pollack, Larry Rivers, Christo, John Sloan, Arman, Francisco Clemente, Ralph Gibson, Rene Shapshak, Robert Mapplethorpe, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Robert Crumb, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Willem De Koonig, and Henri Cartier- Bresson. Dr. Shapshak had become a world-renowned artist and sculptor, bringing his artistic and cultural contributions to many countries. His art is represented in Buckingham Palace, in the Rothschild, Schiff and Schonegevel Collections in England and Athens, Greece and in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. He did sculptures of Mahatma Ghandi and John Cecil Rhodes...

Artist Commentary: Sakura means cherry blossom and is derived from Saku, which means to bloom, or to smile or laugh. Cherry blossoms are a symbolic flower of the spring-- a time of ...