Sixty Works by Modern Masters - Flipbook - Page 53
Arshile Gorky
Arshile Gorky
Armenian/American, 1904 - 1948
Abstraction, 1936
Oil on canvas
38 x 26 inches / 96.5 x 66 cm
Gorky made a significant
contribution to the Abstract
Expressionist movement through
the spontaneity of his artistic
language, which he developed in
New York during the 1940s. Willem
de Kooning described him as an
artist with ‘fantastic instinct’, and
his influence is palpable in the
development of techniques such as
Jackson Pollock’s spontaneous drip
painting.
The present composition is a
rare and fine example of Gorky’s
experiment with Cubism, which
sees him focus primarily on form
and colour. The style of this work
represents a step towards the artist’s
later and more dramatic aesthetic,
for which he became renowned.
Provenance
Mr and Mrs Hans Burkhardt, New York
Anon. sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 13 December 1972, lot 68
Allan Stone Gallery, New York
Associated American Artists, New York
Acquired from the above by the previous owner
Exhibited
Pasadena Museum of Art, Paintings by Arshile Gorky, January-February 1958
La Jolla Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky Paintings and Drawings 1927-1937:
The Collection of Mr and Mrs Hans Burkhardt, February-March 1963,
catalogue no. 4, illustrated as no. 3
New York, Associated American Artists, The Artists of Union Square,
October 1987, no. 22
Literature
J.L. Bordeaux, Arshile Gorky: His Formative Period (1925-1937), in American
Art Review, vol. 1, no. 4, May-June 1974, pp. 105 and 107, illustrated in
colour
R. Goldwater, The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Catalogue, New York,
1982, p. 311-312, no. 168, illustrated
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