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Lot Essay
Fireplace in Virginia is an outstanding drawing made by Arshile Gorky, an artist as much known for his lyrical draftsmanship as for his painting ability. It is a small-scale, but seminal work executed in 1946 in response to an earlier trip to Virginia that had caused a sea change in the artist's work.
In 1943, shortly after the birth of his daughter, Gorky went to Virginia, staying at Crooked Run Farm, the property of his parents-in-law. Gorky was intoxicated by this exposure to the countryside and to country living. He had visited Connecticut the previous year, but this second, much longer stay in the country, enhanced by the novelty of being a father, transformed his art. The countryside immediately reminded Gorky of his childhood home in Armenia, a theme which had continually haunted his works, but which now came to the fore with a lyrical poignancy in the shimmering landscape of Fireplace in Virginia and other works from the period.
The Virginia trip heralded the beginning of Gorky's most profound and original works--a series of revolutionary works made over a brief period which was tragically to end only two years later with the artist's suicide in 1948. During these years, the artist was able to synthesize the lessons of Miro, biomorphic Surrealism and automatism to create his highly personal and evocative style. These works were to become a foundation of Abstract Expressionism and helped lead the way for the developments made by such artists as de Kooning and Pollock.
Fireplace in Virginia is literally and figuratively dripping with the abstracted and charged sexuality that runs through Gorky's best work. The biomorphic shapes reference sensuous feminine curves, as well as phalluses, and the jagged "teeth" references the darker side of Surrealism that is reminiscent of early Giacometti sculptures.
In 1943, shortly after the birth of his daughter, Gorky went to Virginia, staying at Crooked Run Farm, the property of his parents-in-law. Gorky was intoxicated by this exposure to the countryside and to country living. He had visited Connecticut the previous year, but this second, much longer stay in the country, enhanced by the novelty of being a father, transformed his art. The countryside immediately reminded Gorky of his childhood home in Armenia, a theme which had continually haunted his works, but which now came to the fore with a lyrical poignancy in the shimmering landscape of Fireplace in Virginia and other works from the period.
The Virginia trip heralded the beginning of Gorky's most profound and original works--a series of revolutionary works made over a brief period which was tragically to end only two years later with the artist's suicide in 1948. During these years, the artist was able to synthesize the lessons of Miro, biomorphic Surrealism and automatism to create his highly personal and evocative style. These works were to become a foundation of Abstract Expressionism and helped lead the way for the developments made by such artists as de Kooning and Pollock.
Fireplace in Virginia is literally and figuratively dripping with the abstracted and charged sexuality that runs through Gorky's best work. The biomorphic shapes reference sensuous feminine curves, as well as phalluses, and the jagged "teeth" references the darker side of Surrealism that is reminiscent of early Giacometti sculptures.