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Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: © 2021 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
D0148
[Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia: Objects]
c. 1932
India ink and graphite pencil on paper
13 x 21 1/4 in. (33 x 54 cm)
Not inscribed
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Gift of Susan W. Paine in honor of Malcolm Rogers on the occasion of his 10th anniversary as Director of the MFA Boston (2004.2256)
Provenance
Estate of Arshile Gorky (1948)
Possibly Martha Jackson Gallery, New York . . .
[Stephen Hahn Gallery, New York (by 1961)]
Stephen Hahn Gallery, New York; Allan Stone Gallery, New York (December 29, 1961)
Susan W. and Stephen D. Paine, Cambridge, Massachusetts (January 24, 1962)
Susan W. Paine, Cambridge, Massachusetts, by descent (1997)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, by gift (December 2004)
Exhibitions
1979–80 Williamstown
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, Documents, Drawings, and Collages: Fifty American Works on Paper from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen D. Paine, June 8–30, 1979, no. 1, ill. in b/w (repr. 90 degrees counterclockwise), p. 28, as "Study for Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia". Traveled to: John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, December 6, 1979–February 19, 1980; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio.
2003–04b New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective of Drawings, November 20, 2003–February 15, 2004, no. 10, ill. in color, p. 34; p. 242, as "Study for Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia," dated c. 1931–32. Traveled to: Menil Collection, Houston, March 5–May 9, 2004.
Literature
Rand 1981
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. 4–7, ill. in b/w, p. 59, as "Study for Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia," dated 1931–32.
Karp 1982
Karp, Diane. "Arshile Gorky: The Language of Art." Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1982, fig. 30, ill. in b/w, p. 198, as "Study for Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia".
Rand 1991
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, fig. 4–7, ill. in b/w, p. 66, as "Study for Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia," dated 1931–32.
Anfam 2004
Anfam, David. "Arshile Gorky: New York and Houston." The Burlington Magazine (London) 146 (March 2004), fig. 78, ill. in b/w, p. 205, as "Study for Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia".
Notes

Verso, in pencil, upper left [not in artist's hand]: #11248

The verso inscription information and marking are known from a photograph provided by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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 when 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 Objects and Enigma, which were Gorky's own titles, as well as the posthumously titled "Fish and Head," "Column with Objects" and "Écorché." This drawing is part of the subset Objects, of which there are thirty-two known examples. Its title derives from that which Gorky gave to the drawing D0140, when it was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in January 1941 (see that work's commentary). 

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