Execute Magazine

Artist a Day: ARSHILE GORKY 

Artist a day! ARSHILE GORKY  (1904-1948)  Arshile Gorky was born on April 15, 1904, in Khorkom, Van, Turkish Armenia [now in Turkey], and died July 21, 1948, in Sherman, Connecticut, the U.S.

Bound in Sleep

Arshile 's Works

Oil on canvas,  1925

The artist changed his name from Vosdanik Adoyan to Arshile Gorky, in order to avoid the bad opinion that American society had of Armenian refugees in America. The artist also hoped to be able to establish a connection with the Russian art world.

Composition

Arshile 's Works

Oil on canvas, 152.4 x 86.2 cm, c.1938 - c.1940

He was an American painter who bridged the gap between European and American abstract expressionist painting.

Surrealism, abstract, 1946

Charred Beloved II

Arshile 's Works

Arshile Gorky was known for his draftsmanship and painting skills. He used twisted but elegant lines to bring in "biomorphic" forms in his paintings, along with an overlay of colors to create a complex landscape of lines and colors.

oil, wood, canvas, 20.3 x 25.8 cm,  1936

Battle at Sunset with the God of Maize (Composition No. 1)

Arshile 's Works

oil, cardboard, 30.4 x 20.4 cm, 1936

Child of an Idumean Night (Composition No. 4)

Arshile 's Works

"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.”

Famous Quote by  Arshile Gorky 

Enigmatic Combat

Arshile 's Works

Oil on canvas,  1936 - 1937

Out of his most notable paintings, “The Artist and His Mother“ (1926-1936), is based on an old photograph taken in 1912 in Armenia.

oil, canvas, 43.2 x 61 cm, 1946

From a High Place II

Arshile 's Works

Buy Our Art Book "See You There"

Arrow

Abstract Expressionism, 1944

How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life

Arshile 's Works

Arshile Gorky's work often sells for high prices and has had auction sale prices ranging from $350 USD to $14,037,500 USD; some artists sell for much higher. The highest price this artist has sold at auction is $14,037,500.

oil, canvas, 84 x 108 cm, c.1934 - c.1936

Image in Khorkom

Arshile 's Works

"Movement is the translation of life, and if art depicts life, movement should come into art, since we are only aware of living because it moves.“

Famous Quote by  Arshile Gorky 

abstract, Surrealism, 1947

Agony

Arshile 's Works