Arshile Gorky
1904 (Arménie turque) / 1948 (Sherman)
"The artist swaps his real name (Vosdanig Manoog Adoian) for that of a famous Russian writer (Maxim Gorky) and chooses, as a first name, that of the Homeric hero. If Gorky constructs a composite identity from different and often contradictory narratives, his painting is also a clever layering of images. Multiple identities, metamorphoses, bricolages - these are the springs of a complicated identity quest but also of a creative dynamic, where a powerful imagination meets the nostalgia of childhood and the reverence for the great masters, to the benefit of a singular plastic language. Thus, although he remained in the shadow of the great figureheads of American artistic "modernity," the American painter of Armenian origin is a decisive player in the New York art scene of the 1940s, which functions as a pivot between pre-war European art and post-war American art."
© Text by Mathilde Arrivé, Art absolument n° 34, March/April 2010.
"The artist swaps his real name (Vosdanig Manoog Adoian) for that of a famous Russian writer (Maxim Gorky) and chooses, as a first name, that of the Homeric hero. If Gorky constructs a composite identity from different and often contradictory narratives, his painting is also a clever layering of images. Multiple identities, metamorphoses, bricolages - these are the springs of a complicated identity quest but also of a creative dynamic, where a powerful imagination meets the nostalgia of childhood and the reverence for the great masters, to the benefit of a singular plastic language. Thus, although he remained in the shadow of the great figureheads of American artistic "modernity," the American painter of Armenian origin is a decisive player in the New York art scene of the 1940s, which functions as a pivot between pre-war European art and post-war American art."
© Text by Mathilde Arrivé, Art absolument n° 34, March/April 2010.
Artist's articles
Artist's exhibitions
Arshile Gorky 1904 – 1948
09/05/2019 - 22/09/2019
(Venezia) Ca' Pesaro - Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna
09/05/2019 - 22/09/2019
(Venezia) Ca' Pesaro - Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna
Est-ce ainsi que les hommes vivent ?
16/12/2017 - 11/03/2018
(Saint-Paul-de-Vence) Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght
16/12/2017 - 11/03/2018
(Saint-Paul-de-Vence) Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght
Modernités plurielles. 1905-1970 - Nouvel accrochage des collections permanentes
23/10/2013 - 26/01/2015
(Paris) Centre Pompidou
23/10/2013 - 26/01/2015
(Paris) Centre Pompidou