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SUBLIME ART TRANSCENDS LIFE OF TORTURED GENIUS ARSHILE GORKY IN MOVING
By Kirstie Brewer
Culture 24
March 31 2010
UK
Exhibition: Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, Tate Modern, London,
until May 2
Gorky's work is haunted by his tragic childhood - a painful past he
draws from and yet tries to stifle and obscure. Perhaps this is why
he remains something of an enigma - his name doesn't bear the same
weight as his contemporaries Pollock, Rothko or de Kooning, and yet
he is heralded as the father of abstract expressionism.
Born Vosdanig Adoian in Armenia, probably in 1904, Gorky survived
the atrocities of Turkey's Armenian genocide and fled with his mother
and three sisters into Russian-controlled territory.
His mother soon starved to death and the 15-year-old boy and his
sister, Vartoosh, were left alone to begin the arduous journey to
join their father in the United States.
The Artist and His Mother (1926-36). Oil on canvas. Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York. Gift of Julien Levy for Maro and Natasha
Gorky in memory of their father. © the estate of Arshile Gorky Given
such an incalculably traumatic past, the work on display is testament
to Gorky's inspirational resilience.
He reinvented himself as Arshile Gorky, in tribute to the Russian
proletarian writer Maxim Gorky, and even allowed people to believe
they were related. The name, however contrived, brought the promise
of a new kind of revolutionary, international art.
A self-made artist with little formal training, he learnt through
diligently studying the modern artists he passionately admired. At
first glance, one could be forgiven for mistaking Gorky's earliest
works for those of Cezanne, Matisse or Picasso.
The exhibition reveals that Gorky's road to success was a slow and
uneasy one. The series of works made on cheap paper document his
struggle to survive through the Depression. But they also mark an
inventive turning point in his work.
Garden in Sochi (circa 1943). Oil on canvas What is satisfying
about the exhibition is the way it spans Gorky's 25-year career,
charting the artist's journey from learned apprentice to a bold
Abstract Expressionist who lit the way for an entire generation of
American artists. It provides an eye-opening opportunity to consider
his evolving body of work as a whole.
Walking through the 12 rooms, his growing self-confidence and
shift in attitude materialise in front of you. Meticulous studies
and re-workings are displayed alongside final paintings, charting
the artist's struggle for perfection and the emergence of his own
personality.
Gorky found resolve through art; he battled through his trauma by
channelling it into something powerful and poetic. Nowhere is this
more apparent than in his heart- rending painting, The Artist and
His Mother.
The young Gorky stands earnestly next to his beautiful, spectral
mother, both of them unaware of the imminent tragedy. The painting
serves as a haunting memorial to the Armenian genocide and in a
cathartic way, brings his mother back from annihilation.
http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/pai nting+%2526+drawing/art77446
By Kirstie Brewer
Culture 24
March 31 2010
UK
Exhibition: Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, Tate Modern, London,
until May 2
Gorky's work is haunted by his tragic childhood - a painful past he
draws from and yet tries to stifle and obscure. Perhaps this is why
he remains something of an enigma - his name doesn't bear the same
weight as his contemporaries Pollock, Rothko or de Kooning, and yet
he is heralded as the father of abstract expressionism.
Born Vosdanig Adoian in Armenia, probably in 1904, Gorky survived
the atrocities of Turkey's Armenian genocide and fled with his mother
and three sisters into Russian-controlled territory.
His mother soon starved to death and the 15-year-old boy and his
sister, Vartoosh, were left alone to begin the arduous journey to
join their father in the United States.
The Artist and His Mother (1926-36). Oil on canvas. Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York. Gift of Julien Levy for Maro and Natasha
Gorky in memory of their father. © the estate of Arshile Gorky Given
such an incalculably traumatic past, the work on display is testament
to Gorky's inspirational resilience.
He reinvented himself as Arshile Gorky, in tribute to the Russian
proletarian writer Maxim Gorky, and even allowed people to believe
they were related. The name, however contrived, brought the promise
of a new kind of revolutionary, international art.
A self-made artist with little formal training, he learnt through
diligently studying the modern artists he passionately admired. At
first glance, one could be forgiven for mistaking Gorky's earliest
works for those of Cezanne, Matisse or Picasso.
The exhibition reveals that Gorky's road to success was a slow and
uneasy one. The series of works made on cheap paper document his
struggle to survive through the Depression. But they also mark an
inventive turning point in his work.
Garden in Sochi (circa 1943). Oil on canvas What is satisfying
about the exhibition is the way it spans Gorky's 25-year career,
charting the artist's journey from learned apprentice to a bold
Abstract Expressionist who lit the way for an entire generation of
American artists. It provides an eye-opening opportunity to consider
his evolving body of work as a whole.
Walking through the 12 rooms, his growing self-confidence and
shift in attitude materialise in front of you. Meticulous studies
and re-workings are displayed alongside final paintings, charting
the artist's struggle for perfection and the emergence of his own
personality.
Gorky found resolve through art; he battled through his trauma by
channelling it into something powerful and poetic. Nowhere is this
more apparent than in his heart- rending painting, The Artist and
His Mother.
The young Gorky stands earnestly next to his beautiful, spectral
mother, both of them unaware of the imminent tragedy. The painting
serves as a haunting memorial to the Armenian genocide and in a
cathartic way, brings his mother back from annihilation.
http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/pai nting+%2526+drawing/art77446