René Shapshak

René Shapshak was a sculptor whose subjects included Charles de Gaulle, Queen Elizabeth, and Harry Truman. Although Shapshak portrayed some of the most prominent Western leaders of the twentieth century, he was an anarchist sympathizer who often socialized with the movement’s better-known adherents. Shapshak was born in Paris and raised in London, where he was introduced to anarchism. After World War I, he returned to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts, later moving to South Africa and finally to the United States, where he settled in New York. Shapshak and his family lived for several years at New York’s famous Chelsea Hotel, nearby which the artist kept a studio. In addition to producing metal sculptures and installations, he worked in paint and watercolor and lectured on modern art.