Arshile Gorky

In 1933, Arshile Gorky became one of the first artists to become employed by the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project. This later came to include such artists as Jackson Pollock, Diego Rivera and Mark Rothko. (photo “Arshile Gorky with Cigarette” by Gjon Mili)

About my favorite abstract expressionist painter is Arshile Gorky  [real name:  Vostanik Manuk Adoyan--born Khorkom, Turkish Armenia c. 1904; d. 1948, Sherman, Conn.] Came to America when he was 16 to join father who was already here (they never got along).

When looking on-line at some of his paintings, I was happily astonished to see that he painted a landscape of Staten Island, currently my home-borough.  His early paintings were representational as were of many artists who became abstract artists.

He made a long journey from his Staten Island painting to his abstract expressionist paintings.

 ”Staten Island landscape” (1928-29)

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gorky and mother photo 1912

Arshile Gorky-The-Artist-and-his-Mother-1926-34  (His mother died of starvation in Armenia)

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Moving right along:  He changed his style and became successful and famous.  

Arshile Gorky “one year the milkweed” 1944 (489×390)

The Betrothal, II, 1947

Arshile Gorky, American (born Armenia), 1904 – 1948, The Liver is the Cock’s Comb, c. 1943
Oil on canvas 73 ¼ x 98 in. Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Gorky in Sherman, CT, 1948. [love his digs] Photograph by Ben Schnall. Courtesy of Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images

This video is a short dramatization of his life. It’s interesting.

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