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Arshile Gorky
1904–1948
BirthplaceKhorkom Vari Haiyotz Dzore, Armenia
Death placeSherman, Connecticut, United States of America
BiographyReflecting a wide range of styles and influences, the complex art of Arshile Gorky links the evocative distortions of reality associated with the artistic movement known as surrealism with the spontaneous, "automatic" processes of abstract expressionism. Gorky was born Vosdanik Adoian in a village in Armenia, the son of a farmer and an aristocratic mother who imparted her appreciation for Armenia's ancient artistic traditions. Following her tragic death during the family's flight from the Turkish invasion of their region, in 1920 the sixteen-year-old Gorky and his sister arrived in the United States where their father had settled in 1910 to escape military conscription. While a student at the New School of Design in Boston, Gorky visited museums and avidly absorbed varied artistic influences, from early Renaissance painting through the abstract compositions of such modern masters as Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).
Gorky moved to New York in 1925. At first a student at the Grand Central School of Art, he soon became an instructor of drawing. He changed his name to Arshile Gorky, evoking Achilles, the flawed hero of ancient Greek mythology, and the Russian social realist author Maxim Gorky, to whom he claimed to be related. During the 1930s, Gorky closely associated with such important avant-garde artists as Stuart Davis, John Graham and Willem de Kooning (1904-97), sharing a studio with the latter. Often without money for painting materials, he developed his artistic ideas largely through drawing, which he considered a fundamental medium. Gorky's expressive works were shown in several important gallery and museum exhibitions, with his first solo show at Philadelphia's Mellon Galleries in 1931. In the mid-30s he created murals for the Newark, New Jersey, airport under the sponsorship of the Works Program Administration, a depression-era federal relief program. Later he painted murals for the Aviation Building at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.
In the early 1940s, when the rise of fascist regimes in Europe prompted many European artists and intellectuals to immigrate to the United States, Gorky came under the influence of surrealism through French writer and theorist André Breton (1896-1966) and several important émigré artists, notably the Chilean-born Roberto Matta (1911-2002). The brief period between 1940 and the end of Gorky's life was highly productive: he fully synthesized his myriad influences into a highly expressive abstract vision that scholars regard as a well-spring for the movement known as abstract expressionism, which flowered in the following decade. Among his sources was nature, as he worked for part of each year beginning in 1942 in the countryside of Connecticut or Virginia. In 1945, he established a relationship with the Julien Levy Gallery in New York that finally brought him a measure of financial security, and he moved with his family to rural Sherman, Connecticut. In his mid-forties and at the height of his creative powers, the artist suffered a series of devastating personal tragedies--from a studio fire and severe health problems to the dissolution of his second marriage--that led to his suicide. Gorky is now acknowledged as a pivotal figure in the development of American modernism.
Gorky moved to New York in 1925. At first a student at the Grand Central School of Art, he soon became an instructor of drawing. He changed his name to Arshile Gorky, evoking Achilles, the flawed hero of ancient Greek mythology, and the Russian social realist author Maxim Gorky, to whom he claimed to be related. During the 1930s, Gorky closely associated with such important avant-garde artists as Stuart Davis, John Graham and Willem de Kooning (1904-97), sharing a studio with the latter. Often without money for painting materials, he developed his artistic ideas largely through drawing, which he considered a fundamental medium. Gorky's expressive works were shown in several important gallery and museum exhibitions, with his first solo show at Philadelphia's Mellon Galleries in 1931. In the mid-30s he created murals for the Newark, New Jersey, airport under the sponsorship of the Works Program Administration, a depression-era federal relief program. Later he painted murals for the Aviation Building at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.
In the early 1940s, when the rise of fascist regimes in Europe prompted many European artists and intellectuals to immigrate to the United States, Gorky came under the influence of surrealism through French writer and theorist André Breton (1896-1966) and several important émigré artists, notably the Chilean-born Roberto Matta (1911-2002). The brief period between 1940 and the end of Gorky's life was highly productive: he fully synthesized his myriad influences into a highly expressive abstract vision that scholars regard as a well-spring for the movement known as abstract expressionism, which flowered in the following decade. Among his sources was nature, as he worked for part of each year beginning in 1942 in the countryside of Connecticut or Virginia. In 1945, he established a relationship with the Julien Levy Gallery in New York that finally brought him a measure of financial security, and he moved with his family to rural Sherman, Connecticut. In his mid-forties and at the height of his creative powers, the artist suffered a series of devastating personal tragedies--from a studio fire and severe health problems to the dissolution of his second marriage--that led to his suicide. Gorky is now acknowledged as a pivotal figure in the development of American modernism.