Arshile Gorky — vanguardgirl

Gorky in his studio posing among his ‘Nighttime’, ‘Enigma’ and ‘Nostalgia’ series, unknown, c.1932, photograph — *Gorky in his studio posing among his ‘Nighttime’, ‘Enigma’ and ‘Nostalgia’ series*, unknown, c.1932, photograph

Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically with his eyes....Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an exploration into unknown areas.
- Arshile Gorky,

SURREALIST & ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST ARMENIAN-AMERICAN PAINTER.

Born: 15 April 1904, Van, Turkey
Died: 21 July 1948, Sherman, Connecticut
Education: Scott Carbee School of Art, Boston, New School of Design and Illustration, Boston, National Academy of Design and the Grand Central School of Art, New York.

The Leaf of the Artichoke Is an Owl, Arshile Gorky, 1944, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York. — *The Leaf of the Artichoke Is an Owl*, Arshile Gorky, 1944, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Arshile Gorky prefigured Abstract Expressionism and is widely acknowledged to have had a considerable influence on the movement. Although well known as Arshile Gorky his birth name was actually Vosdanik Adoian. At the age of four, Vosdanik’s father fled Turkey to avoid serving in the army, leaving him and his family behind. As a result, Vosdanik and the rest of his family left for Armenia to escape Turkish persecution and punishment.

It was in 1920 that Vosdanik emigrated to America, escaping the Armenian Genocide and adopted the pseudonym Arshile Gorky for which he is more commonly known. The name Arshile is derived from Achilles, the Achaean hero of the Iliad, and the surname Gorky was taken from the writer Maxim Gorky.

Gorky eventually settled in New York City in 1924, enrolling at the National Academy of Design and the Grand Central School of Art. Although he did obtain some formal training, for the most part, Gorky was self taught. He often visited museums and galleries, becoming well acquainted with Impressionism, post-Impressionism, Cubism and Surrealism.

In 1926 Gorky began teaching at the School of Painting and Drawing at the Grand Central School of Art and remained teaching there for the next five years until 1931. Records from school catalogues claim that Gorky was born in Russia and studied in both Moscow and Paris which is entirely fabricated...talk about fake it till you make it! In 1933, Gorky became employed by the Works Progresss Administration Federal Arts Project, along with many artists such as Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock and Alice Neel - artists which would later become recognised as Abstract Expressionist.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Gorky encountered various Surrealist artists who had fled Europe during the Second World War. He became close friends with André Breton and Roberto Matta, both of which contributed heavily to Gorky’s artistic development and style. It was in this period which Gorky began to experiment with automatic drawing. His lyrical abstractions, characterised as free, emotive and unrelated to objective reality would go on to pave the way for Abstract Expressionism.

Beginning in January 1946 Gorky faced what would be a long string of tragedies starting with a fire in his Sherman studio which destroyed more than twenty paintings. In March of the same year, Gorky was diagnosed with cancer and the following year, in 1947 his father passed away. In the summer of 1948, his wife began a brief affair with Gorky’s friend and fellow artist Matta. Later in the same month, Gorky was involved in a horrific car accident which broke his neck and collarbone leaving him barely able to paint. After such unfortunate and horrific events, Gorky’s depression deepened and by July his wife left him. On 21 July 1948 after removing his neck brace, Gorky committed suicide by hanging leaving a note that read “Goodbye My Loveds”.

Gorky’s life was cut incredibly short, a sadly recurring fate for many of the troubled males of the New York School, however he would go on to be considered as one of the greatest Surrealist painters of his time and one of the pioneers of Abstract Expressionism.