Arshile Gorky (1904-1948)
Arshile Gorky (1904-1948)
Arshile Gorky (1904-1948)
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On occasion, Christie's has a direct financial int… Read more The Collection of Morton and Barbara Mandel, sold to benefit the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation
Arshile Gorky (1904-1948)

Untitled

Details
Arshile Gorky (1904-1948)
Untitled
signed and dated 'a. gorky 1943' (lower left)
graphite and wax crayon on paper
20 ½ x 27 ¾ in. (52.1 x 70.5 cm.)
Executed in 1943.
Provenance
James Johnson Sweeney, New York, gift of the artist, circa 1944
Siadhal Sweeney, County Mayo, Ireland, by descent from the above, circa 1986
His sale; Sotheby's, New York, 1 November 1994, lot 23
PaceWildenstein, New York
Acquired from the above by the late owners, 1996
Special notice
On occasion, Christie's has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for the work. This is known as a minimum price guarantee. This is such a lot.

Brought to you by

Emily Kaplan
Emily Kaplan

Lot Essay

This work is recorded in the Arshile Gorky Foundation Archives under number D1025.

Arshile Gorky’s Untitled (Virginia Landscape), 1943 was realized in an important time of exploration in the artist’s career. During the 1940s, Gorky and his wife lived in the countryside of Virginia, where the artist would spend long swaths of the day observing the nature that surrounded him. Through the rigorous studying and constant rendering of various elements of his surroundings, Gorky developed his own visual language and alphabet of organic forms, infused with a distinct character and voice: “Gorky dissected root, stem, insect, leaf and flower, studying genesis and progress…” (E. Schwabacher, Arshile Gorky, New York, 1957, p. 96).

A heap of mushrooms, fungi, stems and, perhaps, small animal bones or unknown forms of all sorts of sizes and shapes, are rendered in a lyrical and abstract way in Untitled (Virginia Landscape). The delicate outline configures an enigmatic ongoing process of genesis and destruction with flashes of soft lines of green, blue, yellow and burgundy.

The drawings of Arshile Gorky show an undeniable oneiric character that unveils and transcends the realism of experiencing nature in everyday life. While many his contemporaries drew upon memory and the unconscious in their depiction of nature, Gorky’s biomorphic forms are set apart at this time as they were rendered through the rigorous use of his unique visual language, which was developed through careful observation in his lived experience and exploration.

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