The City

Details

Arshile Gorky (1904-1948)
The City
oil on canvas
26.1/8 x 20¼ in. (66.2 x 51.5 cm.)
Painted circa 1935

Provenance

Hans Burkhardt, New York, acquired from the artist circa 1935.
Dr. Vance E. Kondon, San Diego and Amsterdam, 1966.

Literature

H. Quayman, "Arshile Gorky's Early Paintings," Arts Magazine, March 1976, vol. 50, no. 7, p. 105 (illustrated).
J. M. Jordan and R. Goldwater, The Paintings of Arshile Gorky, London and New York, 1982, pp. 258-259, no. 127 (illustrated).

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, no. 9.
La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego Collects, January-February 1975.
Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego and Phoenix Art Museum, Collectors, January-November 1977.

Lot Essay

Mrs. Hans Burkhardt recollected, "As to The City, it was painted from a photograph my husband took from the roof of the building Gorky's studio was in. Gorky thought it had interesting abstract forms, and asked to use it for a painting. My husband bought it when it was completed, which probably was 1935" (quoted in Jordan and Goldwater, op. cit., p. 259).

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