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ARSHILE GORKY'S IMPATIENCE AUCTIONED FOR RECORD $6MLN
November 14, 2012 - 15:37 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The work of Armenian-born abstract expressionist
Arshile Gorky, Impatience was auctioned for a record $6.802.500
at Sotheby's.
Executed in 1945, Arshile Gorky's lyrical Impatience marks the
crescendo of the 1943-45 period when the artist created an elite cycle
of abstract canvases. Impatience is distinguished by an extensive
exhibition history beginning with the 1951 show at the Whitney Museum
of American Art. The ownership history of the present work equally is
remarkable, having been part of the private collections of the noted
Surrealist artist, Yves Tanguy, as well as the distinguished American
collector, Israel Rosen. The painting was acquired by Mr. and Mrs.
Kohl in 1973 and has not been exhibited since the early 1980s.
Arshile Gorky was born Vosdanig Adoian around 1902 in the village
of Khorkom, near Lake Van, in an Armenian province on the eastern
border of Ottoman Turkey. The Armenian Genocide drove Gorky's family
and thousands of others out of Van in 1915. These traumatic events
culminated in the tragic early death of his mother from starvation in
December 1918. Gorky and his sister Vartoosh eventually immigrated to
the United States in 1920, where he changed his name to Arshile Gorky
(in honor of the famed Russian writer Maxim Gorky) and invented a
new life for himself.
After living with relatives in New England, Gorky settled in New York
City in 1924, and enrolled at the National Academy of Design and the
Grand Central School of Art (where he also became an instructor).
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Gorky's prominent position in the
New York art scene brought him into contact with several members of
the Surrealist group, who had been forced to flee Europe during the
Second World War.
Until his death in 1948, Gorky painted highly original abstractions
that combined memories of his Armenian childhood. A string of tragic
events beginning in the mid 1940s, however, would leave the artist
in both physical and emotional agony, leading the depressed Gorky to
commit suicide on July 21, 1948.
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November 14, 2012 - 15:37 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The work of Armenian-born abstract expressionist
Arshile Gorky, Impatience was auctioned for a record $6.802.500
at Sotheby's.
Executed in 1945, Arshile Gorky's lyrical Impatience marks the
crescendo of the 1943-45 period when the artist created an elite cycle
of abstract canvases. Impatience is distinguished by an extensive
exhibition history beginning with the 1951 show at the Whitney Museum
of American Art. The ownership history of the present work equally is
remarkable, having been part of the private collections of the noted
Surrealist artist, Yves Tanguy, as well as the distinguished American
collector, Israel Rosen. The painting was acquired by Mr. and Mrs.
Kohl in 1973 and has not been exhibited since the early 1980s.
Arshile Gorky was born Vosdanig Adoian around 1902 in the village
of Khorkom, near Lake Van, in an Armenian province on the eastern
border of Ottoman Turkey. The Armenian Genocide drove Gorky's family
and thousands of others out of Van in 1915. These traumatic events
culminated in the tragic early death of his mother from starvation in
December 1918. Gorky and his sister Vartoosh eventually immigrated to
the United States in 1920, where he changed his name to Arshile Gorky
(in honor of the famed Russian writer Maxim Gorky) and invented a
new life for himself.
After living with relatives in New England, Gorky settled in New York
City in 1924, and enrolled at the National Academy of Design and the
Grand Central School of Art (where he also became an instructor).
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Gorky's prominent position in the
New York art scene brought him into contact with several members of
the Surrealist group, who had been forced to flee Europe during the
Second World War.
Until his death in 1948, Gorky painted highly original abstractions
that combined memories of his Armenian childhood. A string of tragic
events beginning in the mid 1940s, however, would leave the artist
in both physical and emotional agony, leading the depressed Gorky to
commit suicide on July 21, 1948.
0