Study for Mural for the Marine Transportation Building, New York World's Fair

1939

Arshile Gorky

Associated Names
Arshile Gorky

Artist, American, born Van Province, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), c. 1904 - 1948

The image shows bold, irregular shapes and lines within a rectangular frame. Swathes of blue, black, white, and beige are intertwined, suggesting silhouettes of objects such as machinery, architectural structures, and nautical themes like boats and sails. Circular and rectangular forms intermingle with wavy lines, resembling parts of gears and ropes.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    opaque watercolor over graphite on paper mounted to board

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the Avalon Foundation

  • Dimensions

    sight size: 23.2 x 102 cm (9 1/8 x 40 3/16 in.)
    framed (D): 2.3 cm (7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1971.59.1

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Costello, No.D0797

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist; to Esther John H. Magruder II, Lincoln, Virginia, c.1940-43; to John H. Magruder III, Washington D.C., likely by gift, by 1968; to Henri Gallery, Washington D.C., by 1968; to Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, October 23,1968; purchased by National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., April 30, 1971.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1974

  • Recent Acquisitions and Promised Gifts: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., June 2–September 2, 1974, ill. in b/w, p. 220, as "Sketch for a Marine Building Mural".

2003

  • Arshile Gorky Drawings Retrospective, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Menil Collection, Houston, 2003-2004, no. 50.

2009

  • Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Tate Modern, London; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2009- 2010, no. 86, repro. (shown only in Philadelphia).

Bibliography

1974

  • Recent Acquisitions and Promised Gifts: Sculptures, Drawings, Prints. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1974:220.

2009

  • Taylor, Michael R. ed. Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art; Tate Modern, London, England; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2009-2010, no. 86.

2010

  • Patterson, Jody. "Modernism and Murals at the 1939 New York World's Fair."_American Art_2/24 (2010): 50-73.

Inscriptions

lower left: A Gorky / 1939, Verso, on board, center, black ink, unknown hand: Mural Panel / For / Dining Room / Second Deck / Size: 20' 4" x 4' 9" / Material: Inlaid Linoleum / or / Oil on canvas / Two Circular Panels / Executed in same medium. / For / United States Maritime / Commission

Markings

None.

Watermarks

None.

Wikidata ID

Q64536485

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