Arshile Gorky

Lot Description Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) Fireplace in Virginia inscribed and dated 'To my Mougouch Arshile 46' (center left) ink, crayon and graphite on paper 11 1/8 x 13 1/8 in. (28.8 x 33.9 cm.) Executed in 1946. Provenance Agnes Gorky Fielding, New York, 1957 Galleria dell'Obelisco, Rome Private collection, 1957 Acquired from the above by the present owner Literature E. Schwabacher, Arshile Gorky, New York, 1957, p. 116, no. 50 (illustrated). R. Reiff, A Stylistic Analysis of Arshile Gorky's Art from 1943-1948, New York and London, 1977, p. 304 (illustrated). H. Rand, Arshile Gorky: The Implications of Symbols, Montclair and London, 1980, pp. 137-138, fig. 8-6 (illustrated). Exhibited Rome, Galleria dell'Obelisco, Arshile Gorky, February 1957, no. 28. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, American Art at Mid-Century: The Subjects of the Artist, 1978, fig. 46 (illustrated). View Lot Notes > This work is recorded in the Arshile Gorky Foundation Archives under number D1291.

Lot 116 Arshile Gorky American, 1904-1948 Untitled (Man with Rake, Wheelbarrow, in Field) Charcoal on primed canvas 16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm) Provenance: Henry Harris, New York David and Gertrude Harris, 1949 Thérese A. Gay, Lambertville, NJ, 1991 Paul Gratz Gallery, New Hope, PA, mid-late 1990s Sale: William Bunch Auctions, Chadds Ford, PA, May 3, 2011, Lot 238 To current owner, May 2011 This work is catalogued in the Arshile Gorky Foundation Archives as number P372 C Estimate $8,000-10,000 Heavily soiled. Residue along outer 1/2 inch of canvas at all four sides. The canvas is buclking. Scracthes in gesso. Gesso losses at lower right, upper right, and upper center. The charcoal is smudged at upper left in tree, center on and below figure and at wheelbarrow. Minor cracking, and marks from stretcher. Any condition statement is given as a courtesy to a client, is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Doyle New York shall have no responsibility for any error or omission. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging.

Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) Sans titre (étude pour "Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia") signé 'a Gorky' (en bas à droite) plume et encre de Chine sur papier 55.4 x 76.5 cm. (21 7/8 x 30 1/8 in.) Exécuté vers 1931-33 Atelier de l'artiste. Steven Mazoh & Co. Inc., New York. Vente, Christie's, New York, 10 novembre 2004, lot 26. Acquis au cours de cette vente par le propriétaire actuel. E. K. Schwabacher, Arshile Gorky, New York, 1957, pp. 46, 50 et 52, fig. 12 (illustré). D. Ashton, Modern American Painting, New York, 1970, pp. 73-74. New York, Museum of Modern Art, Arshile Gorky, décembre 1962, p. 21 (titré 'Drawing'). New York, Knoedler Gallery, Gorky: Drawings, novembre-décembre 1969, no. 11 (titré 'Drawing'). Newark Museum, Murals without Walls: Arshile Gorky's Aviation Murals Rediscovered, novembre 1978-mars 1979, p. 74, no. 12. New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Arshile Gorky: a Retrospective, avril-juillet 1981, no. 46 (illustré; titré 'Composition'). Lausanne, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts; Vienne, Graphische Sammlung Albertina; Marseille, Musée Cantini; Saint-Etienne, Musée d'Art Moderne; Frankfort, Kunstverein et Breme, Kunsthalle, Arshile Gorky: Oeuvres sur papier 1929-1947, septembre 1990-février 1992 (titré 'Composition'). Princeton University, Art Museum; Milwaukee, Art Museum et Baltimore, Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky and the Genesis of Abstraction: Drawings from the Early 1930s, octobre 1994-janvier 1996, pp. 44-45, no. 22 (illustré en couleurs; titré 'Objects with Écorché'). 'Untitled (study for "Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia")'; signed lower right; pen, brush and India ink on paper; executed circa 1931-33. Cette oeuvre figure dans les archives de la Fondation Arshile Gorky sous le numéro D129. 'Wounded birds, poverty and a whole week of rain' (Des oiseaux blessés, la misère, et une semaine complète de pluie). C'est en ces termes énigmatiques qu'Arshile Gorky décrivit la série d'une cinquantaine de dessins exécutés entre 1931 et 1934 aujourd'hui reconnue comme l'un de ses travaux majeurs, réalisé à une période charnière d'exploration des frontières entre cubisme et surréalisme. La présente oeuvre est un exemple remarquable de l'usage intensif que Gorky fit du dessin à cette période. Sa prédilection pour le papier, loin d'être une simple conséquence des difficultés économiques de l'époque, est un choix délibéré de l'artiste qui puise dans le dessin une énergie incomparable. Dans son catalogue raisonné, Melvin P. Lader assimile ce processus à un véritable voyage dans l'inconnu. Un objet ou une forme émerge d'une première exploration puis s'affine par retouches successives du dessin en altérant ou améliorant les surfaces et en ajoutant ou supprimant certaines lignes : "À force d'ombres, de hachures et de contre-hachures, l'artiste introduisit un sens du modelé et en variant les frontières entre les formes, en renversant les relations de tonalités et en nuançant les degrés d'ombres et de hachures, il put produire un groupe impressionnant d'oeuvres qui traitent des possibilités formelles quasi infinies du dessin" (A retrospective of Drawings, catalogue d'exposition, Whitney Museum of Art, New York, 2003, p. 32). Il est possible de remonter à l'origine de nombreux éléments figurant dans les dessins de la série. La grande forme courbe à gauche, véritable leitmotiv de l'artiste évoquant à la fois une palette et les os du bassin, fut probablement empruntée aux études que Picasso fit de figures sur la plage à partir de 1929 (fig. 1). De même, la silhouette debout à droite provient d'une étude d'écorché, se rapportant à un dessin d'Aimé Bourdon datant du XVIIème siècle. Chacun de ces éléments est typique du corpus de formes organiques et poétiques de Gorky. Le présent dessin sera repris quelques années après son exécution dans la partie gauche d'une maquette pour une peinture murale d'un bâtiment public. Titrée '1934' et composée de nombreux éléments tirés de la série de dessins, cette composition fut inspirée d'un panneau de la prédelle de Paolo Ucello, La Profanation de l'hostie, datant de 1468, librement adapté par Gorky. Le projet ne vit finalement jamais le jour, mais les dessins préparatoires comptent néanmoins aujourd'hui parmi les oeuvres emblématiques de l'artiste. Sans titre (étude pour "Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia") en est l'un des meilleurs exemples : exécutés sur une feuille de grand format et de qualité supérieure, les motifs s'y développent en une vaste superposition d'éléments décoratifs et expressifs, au coeur d'un paysage surréaliste très contrasté. Tant par la qualité du trait que par son importance au sein de la série, le présent dessin égale la version aujourd'hui conservée au Whitney Museum à New York. Wounded birds, poverty and a whole week of rain'. These fittingly enigmatic words were the few which Arshile Gorky chose to describe his drawings around the theme of Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia. The series, composed of around fifty drawings executed between 1931 and 1934, constitutes one of the artist's major themes at a pivotal period in his career which saw him explore the boundaries between cubism and surrealism. The present large-scale ink drawing is a leading example of Gorky's extensive use of draftsmanship during this period. Rather than resulting from the economic hardships of the times, his concentration on works on paper was instead a positive result of the energy which he felt flowed from the drawing process. Melvin P. Lader, in his catalogue raisonné of the artist's drawings, identifies this process as a journey which began for Gorky with a spontaneous adventure into the unknown. An object or form which emerged from a first exploration was then refined through a progression of reworking from drawing to drawing, with surfaces being altered or improved and marks added or removed: 'By using shading, hatching and cross-hatching, the artist introduced a sense of modeling, and by varying the boundaries between shapes, reversing tonal relationships, and modifying the degree of shading and hatching, he was able to produce an impressive group of works that speak to the nearly endless formal possibilities of drawing' ( A retrospective of Drawings, exhibition catalogue, Whitney Museum of Art, New York, 2003, p. 32). Several of the forms which emerged in the drawings for the series can be traced back to specific source material. The large curved shape at the left (the pelvicalette form which became a characteristic leitmotif for the artist) was likely borrowed from Picasso's studies of figures on the beach from 1929 (fig. 1). Similarly, the standing figure to the right comes from a study of Ecorché figures, this time with its origin in a drawing of the 17th century by Amé Bourdon. Each of these elements is characteristic of Gorky's private vocabulary of organic and poetic forms. The arrangement in present drawing would come to serve as the left hand portion of a composition the artist developed for a Public Works Project in 1934. To be titled 1934, and composed of an alignment of many of the elements the artist had executed in his drawn series, the interlocking composition was intended to form a wall mural with a stage-like composition loosely based on that of a pradella panel by Paolo Ucello, The Profanation of the Host, from 1468. In the end the 1934 mural project was never completed, but Gorky's drawings around the Nighttime theme remain one of the artist's most important legacies. Of the series, the present work is one of the leading examples: executed on a large sheet of high quality paper, the motifs are worked up using an extensive layering of decorative and expressive mark-making, set within a highly contrasted surrealist landscape. In terms of the quality of line and importance within the Nighttime series, this drawing equates in significance to the version in the collection of the Whitney Museum, New York.

179 ARSHILE GORKY Untitled , circa 1945 pencil and crayon on Strathmore paper 19 x 24 3/4 in. (48.3 x 62.9 cm) Dedicated “J. Levy 1” on the reverse. This work is recorded in the Arshile Gorky Foundation Archives, under number D1294. ESTIMATE $300,000 - 400,000 PROVENANCE Julien Levy, Bridgewater, Connecticut Richard L. Feigen & Company, Chicago, February 1960 Steingrim Laursen, Denmark, March 1973 Private Collection EXHIBITED Saratoga Springs, New York, Hathorn Gallery, Skidmore College, The Drawings of Arshile Gorky , October 21- November 9, 1969 Hannover, Germany, Galerie Brusberg, Arshile Gorky , June 18 - August 31, 1971 Cologne, Baukunst, Der Geist des Surrealismus , October 4 - November 20, 1971 Turin, Galleria Galatea, Arshile Gorky , February 29 - March 27, 1972 Toronto, Dunkelman Gallery, Arshile Gorky , 1904 - 1948, October 14 - October 20, 1972 Düsseldorf, Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Surrealität Bildrealität , December 8, 1974 – February 2, 1975 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, El Surrealismo entre el Viejo y Nuevo Mundo , December 4, 1989 - February 4, 1990 LITERATURE Hathorn Gallery, The Drawings of Arshile Gorky , exh. cat., Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, 1969. no. 33 (illustrated) Baukunst, Der Geist des Surrealismus , exh. cat., Cologne, 1971, no. 47. (illustrated) T. Chiaretti, Arshile Gorky , exh. cat., Galleria Galatea, Turin, 1972, unnumbered checklist (illustrated) Dunkelman Gallery, Arshile Gorky , 1904 - 1948, exh. cat., Toronto, 1972, no. 18 (illustrated) Art International , April 1973, p. 41 (illustrated) J. Manuel Bonet, El Surrealismo entre el Viejo y Nuevo Mundo , Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, 1989 (illustrated) Contact Specialist Request Condtion Report Recieve Email alerts Drawing is the basis of art. A bad painter cannot draw. But one who draws well can always paint. Drawing gives the artist the ability to control his line and hand. It develops in him the precision of line and touch. This is the path towards a... Read More... View catalogue Purchase catalogue Annual subscriptions

Lot Description Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) Untitled signed and dated 'a. gorky 1944' (lower right) pencil and crayon on paper 19 x 25 in. (48.2 x 63.5 cm.) Drawn in 1944. Provenance Thomas and Mary Taylor, Virginia, acquired from the artist By descent from the above to the present owner View Lot Notes › This drawing is catalogued in the Arshile Gorky Foundation Archives as #D1505. In late 1943, Arshile Gorky and his wife Agnes briefly lived in rural Virginia. As the couple adjusted to life in the country, which included farming and tending to their vegetable garden, Gorky found himself inspired by nature. "The sketches and pictures of that summer teem with rich curving forms and delicate organisms transposed upon expansive landscapes. He went out to work at six each morning. Visiting a spot he had found on his exploratory rambles" (N. Matossian, Black Angel: A Life of Arshile Gorky, London 1998, p. 347). It was during these months that the Gorkys became close friends with neighbors Thomas and Mary Taylor. Through daily interactions and long social dinners, their bond strengthened, not to mention the fact that both women were expecting children. In late October, Agnes miscarried. The couple was devastated and it was decided that Agnes should travel to a hospital in Washington with her mother, while Gorky stayed behind to tend to their home. Through those difficult days apart, the bond between the Taylors and Gorky strengthened. "Before leaving Virginia, Gorky wished to thank the Taylors for their hospitality during the time Agnes had been in hospital. He invited them to his studio for the first and last time. They were unprepared for the sight that greeted them in the barn, filled with rusting implements and bones and droppings, and the great stack of canvases...Realizing that his tongue-tied Quaker friends could not conjure up a response he led them over to some drawings. 'Let me explain to you where I was standing when I did that drawing.' He pointed out of the open doorway of the studio barn at a peach tree and the fields beyond ' (Ibid, pp. 367-368). Drawn in 1944, Untitled fully embodies the inspiration that Gorky found in the Virginia landscape. The confident graphite lines of the composition dance across the expanse of the sheet interspersed with flashes of vivid color. Like his most fluid and spontaneous drawings, Untitled, is representative of the rigorous discipline and precision for which he strived. In this drawing, Gorky's mastery of the process is evident in his ability to transform the observed pastoral farm landscape into an imaginative space filled with mysterious shapes and passionate forms. The horizon line, the pear tree, and the rolling hills are barely glimpsed before they dissolve into abstracted shapes; Untitled beckons the viewer into the artist's world. "Gorky's drawings exhibit the muscular grace of the graphite line drawn with authority and passion; one moment his hand glides or skips, the next it fiercely scratches. The power and importance of his drawings lie in the beauty and sensuousness of the forms and the whole composition as abstraction, rather than any individual part" (J.C. Lee, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective of Drawing, exh. cat., New York, 2003, p. 80).