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Photo: Mali Olatunji; © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
D0140
Objects
1932
Ink on paper
22 x 29 7/8 in. (55.9 x 75.9 cm)
Recto, in ink, lower right: Arshile Gorky / 1932
Verso not inscribed
Verso not inscribed
Provenance
Exhibitions
Boyer Galleries, Philadelphia, Gorky: Drawings, October 1–20, 1935.
1935–36a New York likely
Guild Art Gallery, New York, Abstract Drawings by Arshile Gorky, December 16, 1935–January 5, 1936.Museum of Modern Art, New York, New Acquisitions: American Painting and Sculpture, March 10–May 3, 1941, as Objects.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Department of Circulating Exhibitions (organizer), Modern Drawings, 1944–45, ill. in b/w, p. 78, as Objects. Traveled to: Museum of Modern Art, New York, February 16–May 10, 1944; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, June 20–July 18, 1944; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, August 1–29, 1944; Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland, October 1–29, 1944; St. Paul Gallery and School of Art, Minnesota, November 12–December 10, 1944; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, January 3–31, 1945; Milwaukee Art Institute, February 14–March 14, 1945; Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, March 28–April 25, 1945; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, May 9–June 7, 1945.
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York, 20th Century Drawings, November 4–30, 1945.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Drawings in the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, April 15–June 1, 1947, as Objects.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Arshile Gorky Memorial Exhibition, January 5–February 18, 1951, no. 59, p. 48, as Objects. Traveled to: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, March 4–April 22, 1951; San Francisco Museum of Art, California, May 9–July 9, 1951.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Department of Circulating Exhibitions (organizer), Made in New York State – Drawings and Watercolors from The Museum of Modern Art, 1959–60, as Objects, [not exhibited in Albany and Aurora]. Traveled to: State Fair, Syracuse, New York, September 4–12, 1959; State University Teachers College, Oneonta, New York, September 28–October 19, 1959; State University College of Education, Brockport, New York, November 3–24, 1959; Memorial Art Museum, University of Rochester, New York, December 11–January 1, 1959; Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, February 8–23, 1960; Roberson Memorial Center, Binghamton, New York, March 13–April 3, 1960; Arnot Art Gallery, Elmira, New York, April 26–May 17, 1960; Schenectady Museum Association, New York, June 1–22, 1960; Draper Art Gallery, State University of New York, Albany, September 27–October 18, 1960; Wells College, Aurora, New York, November 2–23, 1960.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Department of Circulating Exhibitions (organizer), Twentieth-Century Drawings from The Museum of Modern Art, 1960–62, as Objects. Traveled to: Washington University, Steinberg Hall, St. Louis, March 20–April 17, 1961; Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, May 2–30, 1961; Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, July 15–August 2, 1961; Cincinnati Art Museum, September 18–October 10, 1961; Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana, November 12–December 3, 1961; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., December 18, 1961–January 8, 1962; Indiana University, Bloomington, January 29–February 19, 1962; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, February 28–March 21, 1962; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, April 5–26, 1962; The Arts Club of Chicago, May 11–June 6, 1962; Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma, October 1–25, 1962; Department of Municipal Art, Los Angeles, November 6–December 2, 1962; Portland Art Museum, Oregon, December 17, 1962–January 7, 1963; Stanford University, California, January 17–February 7, 1963; Winnipeg Art Gallery, California, February 22–March 15, 1963.
M. Knoedler & Co. Inc, New York, Gorky: Drawings, November 25–December 27, 1969. (Exhibition catalogue: Jordan 1969), no. 18, ill. in b/w, p. 22; p. 56, as Objects.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Preliminary Drawings, May 23–August 31, 1970, no. 8, as Objects.
University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin, Arshile Gorky: Drawings to Paintings, October 12–November 23, 1975. (Exhibition catalogue: University of Texas at Austin 1975), ill. in b/w, p. 30; p. 105, as Objects, [exhibited in Austin only]. Traveled to: San Francisco Museum of Art, December 4, 1975–January 12, 1976; Neuberger Museum, Purchase College, State University of New York, February 10–March 14, 1976; Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York, April 4–May 9, 1976.
Bell Gallery, List Art Building, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, Graham, Gorky, Smith, & Davis in the Thirties, April 30–May 22, 1977, no. 9, as Objects.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Abstraction-création, art non-figuratif, September 20–December 4, 1977, as Objects.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 39, ill. in b/w, p. 93, as Objects. Traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, September 12–November 6, 1981; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 3, 1981–February 28, 1982.
Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, October 17–December 23, 1989, no. 55, ill. in color, p. 135, as Objects. Traveled to: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, January 19–March 25, 1990.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective of Drawings, November 20, 2003–February 15, 2004, no. 11, ill. in color, p. 35; p. 242, as Objects. Traveled to: Menil Collection, Houston, March 5–May 9, 2004.
Literature
Gorky, Arshile. "Replies to Museum of Modern Art Questionnaires." 1941, discussed, as Objects.
Schwabacher, Ethel. Arshile Gorky. Introduction by Meyer Schapiro. New York: The Macmillan Company for the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1957. Monograph, fig. 10, ill. in b/w, p. 43, as Objects.
Reiff, Robert F. "A Stylistic Analysis of Arshile Gorky's Art from 1943–1948." Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, New York, 1961, fig. 15, ill. in b/w, p. 293, as Objects.
Rosenberg, Harold. Arshile Gorky: The Man, the Time, the Idea. New York: Horizon Press, 1962. Monograph, ill. in b/w, p. 33, as Objects.
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Montclair, NJ: Allanheld, Osmun & Co. Publishers Inc., and London: George Prior Associated Publishers Ltd., 1981. Monograph, fig. 4–8, ill. in b/w, p. 59, as Objects.
Waldman, Diane. "Arshile Gorky: Poet in Paint." In Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in collaboration with The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1981. Exhibition catalogue, discussed p. 28, p. 31, as Objects.
Karp, Diane. "Arshile Gorky: The Language of Art." Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1982, fig. 31, ill. in b/w, p. 199, as Objects.
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, fig. 4–8, ill. in b/w, p. 66, as Objects.
Lader, Melvin P., Joseph P. Ruzicka, Martin Kline, and Sarah E. Lawrence. "Catalogue [of Plates]." In Arshile Gorky and the Genesis of Abstraction: Drawings from the Early 1930s. New York: Stephen Mazoh & Co., Inc., Distributed by the University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 1994. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 19, ill. in b/w, p. 60, as Objects.
Karmel, Pepe. "Arshile Gorky: Anatomical Blackboard." Master Drawings (New York) 40 (2002), fig. 3, ill. in b/w, p. 11, as Objects.
Matttison, Robert S. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafica, 2009. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 34, as Objects.
Karmel, Pepe. "The Blue Veil: Arshile Gorky's Untitled (Virginia Summer)." In Arshile Gorky: Beyond The Limit, edited by Jennifer Magee. Zurich: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2021. Exhibition catalogue, discussed p. 17, as Objects.
Notes
Watermark / Stamp: Whatman
J. Whatman paper with watermark, upper left: HANDMADE J WHATMAN 1931
Verso, in pencil, lower left [not in artist's hand]: 324.41
The verso inscription information and marking are known from a photograph provided by the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Commentary
In 1929, Gorky began a series of abstract works which is now referred to as "Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia." While he continued working on this until 1936, it was between 1931 and 1934 that he was most dedicated to developing the composition. Ultimately, he produced nearly one hundred drawings and three related paintings. The body of work can be divided into subsets, such as the posthumously titled "Fish and Head," "Écorché" and "Column with Objects." Two subsets, Enigma and Objects, are Gorky's own titles. He gave the latter title to this drawing when it was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in January 1941.
In an object questionnaire completed at the time of the drawing's acquisition, concerning the work's subject matter and "any special personal, topical, or symbolic significance" therein, Gorky offers: "wounded birds, poverty and one whole week of rain."1 His brief responses further describe the drawing as a preparatory study for his painting, Enigma (P120), then in the collection of Etta (1895–1980) and M. Martin Janis (1892–1969), and respond in the affirmative to the inquiry: "Do you feel that this work [D0140] is a representative example of your work in this medium and of this period?"2
1. MoMA, Drawings and Prints Object File, 324.1941. "Arshile Gorky: Reply to Museum of Modern Art Questionnaires," in Matthew Spender, ed., Arshile Gorky: The Plow and the Song: A Life in Letters and Documents (Zurich: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2018), 207.
2. MoMA, Drawings and Prints Object File, 324.1941.
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