Arshile Gorky

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

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Abstracted forms are painted in grass green, black, pepper red, butter yellow, tawny beige, rose pink, and a few touches of ocean blue in this horizontal composition. The paint is applied thinly, almost like watercolor wash. Translucent layers of paint drip down the canvas and knit the colors and shapes together. Most of the forms create a roughly pyramidal shape at the center. Some are vaguely square-shaped while others are oval, circular, or triangular. Many of the forms are outlined in black, and some have spots of color at their centers. For instance, a cluster of shapes near the lower right includes two canted parallelograms outlined with black. One has an emerald-green oval at its center and the other a black oval. Other shapes in that area include a rust-red triangle, a solid black anvil-shaped form, and a butternut-orange circle surrounded by vibrant yellow. A caramel-brown area spans the bottom edge of the canvas. The artist signed and dated the lower left corner, “A. Gorky 44.”
Arshile Gorky, One Year the Milkweed, 1944, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1979.13.2

One Year the Milkweed

Arshile Gorky · 1944 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1979.13.2

This abstract, square painting is filled with geometric shapes of flat color outlined in black. The largest shape is a white square in the center, which is overlapped or further divided into more rectangles in white, sea glass green, or pale pink. Some of the corners of the internal shapes are marked with a circle. A rounded black form, roughly the shape of a bulbous, lowercase h, sits to our left of center against the white square. A bright yellow disk with a crimson-red dot at its center is on the back end of the form. At the bottom right of the white square, there is a tall, blood-red rectangle with an inset, cup-like, steel-gray form at its top. Above the white square are narrow bands of white and soft purple, and below are fields of steel gray and white. A vertical band of buttercup yellow runs up along the top two-thirds of the right edge. The bottom left corner of this yellow shape is cut in with a ruby-red triangle. A collection of smaller, narrow shapes sits to our left of the white square. These include a canary-yellow disk over a tall, white triangle, and sea glass-green rectangle with two black, coffee bean-like forms, a black trapezoid, a topaz-blue square, and two white forms that could be stylized profiles with prominent noses. A band of crimson red flanked by a border of blue above and yellow below runs off the left edge. The field behind this jumble of shapes is pale, blush pink.
Arshile Gorky, Organization, 1933-1936, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1979.13.3

Organization

Arshile Gorky · 1933-1936 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1979.13.3

A young boy with pink and tan-colored skin stands next to a seated woman with an ashen white face, and both look out at us in this vertical portrait painting. The scene is created with broad areas of mottled color in rust and coral red, pale pink, lilac purple, ivory white, and shades of tawny brown. The eyes of both people are heavily outlined with large, dark pupils. To our right, the woman’s pale, oval face is surrounded by a muted, mint-green cloth that covers her hair and wraps across her neck. Her eyes are outlined with charcoal gray, and her heavy lids shaded under arched brows with smoky, plum purple. She has a straight nose, and her burgundy-red lips are closed in a straight line. Her long, rose-pink dress is lavender purple below the knee, and is scrubbed with darker pink strokes across her lap. Her sleeves are tan on the upper arms and cream white on the forearm, over two blush-pink forms that represent her hands resting on her thighs. Along the top of her shoulders, her dress is terracotta red. A rectangular, fog-gray form behind her could be a chair or a half-wall, the top edge of which is higher to our right of her head. To our left, the boy has dark brown, short hair over putty pink, protruding ears. The area between his eyelid and arched brow is filled in with chocolate brown, giving his staring eyes a hooded look. His jawline, chin, and lips are outlined with dark brown. His khaki-brown, knee-length coat has pale, rose-pink sleeves and a black collar. An area of pale, ice blue could be a kerchief or high-collared shirt, and he wears fawn-brown pants. One of his slippers is coffee brown and the other, closer to the woman, is slate gray. He holds a loosely painted, pale, turquoise-blue object in one hand at his waist. The pair are situated against a background painted in areas of coral, ruby, crimson, and wine red. Two vertical, concrete-gray strips behind the boy and woman could be columns. The floor along the bottom edge of the painting is pale pink.
Arshile Gorky, The Artist and His Mother, c. 1926-c. 1942, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1979.13.1

The Artist and His Mother

Arshile Gorky · c. 1926-c. 1942 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1979.13.1

Arshile Gorky, Standing Female Nude, c. 1930, opaque watercolor with collage on paper mounted on board, Ruth and Jacob Kainen Memorial Acquisition Fund, 2015.77.1

Standing Female Nude

Arshile Gorky · c. 1930 · opaque watercolor with collage on paper mounted on board ·  Accession ID  2015.77.1

Arshile Gorky, Study for Mural for the Marine Transportation Building, New York World's Fair, 1939, opaque watercolor over graphite on paper mounted to board, Gift of the Avalon Foundation, 1971.59.1

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

Arshile Gorky · 1939 · opaque watercolor over graphite on paper mounted to board ·  Accession ID  1971.59.1

Arshile Gorky, Mannikin, c. 1931, lithograph, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Florian Carr Fund and Gift of the Print Research Foundation, 2008.115.67

Mannikin

Arshile Gorky · c. 1931 · lithograph ·  Accession ID  2008.115.67

Arshile Gorky, Painter and Model, 1931, lithograph in black on wove paper, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Florian Carr Fund and Gift of the Print Research Foundation, 2008.115.66

Painter and Model

Arshile Gorky · 1931 · lithograph in black on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2008.115.66

Arshile Gorky, Greetings (Christmas Card), c. 1938, woodcut, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008.115.2190

Greetings (Christmas Card)

Arshile Gorky · c. 1938 · woodcut ·  Accession ID  2008.115.2190

Arshile Gorky, Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia, c. 1931-1934, pen and black and brown ink over graphite with scraping on wove paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund and Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1979.21.1

Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia

Arshile Gorky · c. 1931-1934 · pen and black and brown ink over graphite with scraping on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1979.21.1

Arshile Gorky, The Plow and the Song, 1946, charcoal pencil, charcoal with erasing, pastel, graphite pencil, and spatters of oil paint on wove paper, Gift of the Avalon Foundation, 1971.58.1

The Plow and the Song

Arshile Gorky · 1946 · charcoal pencil, charcoal with erasing, pastel, graphite pencil, and spatters of oil paint on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1971.58.1