Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné
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Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Peter Schälchli
D0149
[Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia: Objects]
c. 1931–33
Ink and graphite pencil on laid paper
18 7/8 x 24 3/4 in. (47.9 x 62.9 cm)
Recto not inscribed
Verso not seen
Private collection
Provenance
Estate of Arshile Gorky (1948)
Private collection (1975)
[Hauser & Wirth (March 2017)]
Exhibitions
1994–96 New York
Stephen Mazoh & Co. Inc, New York (organizer), Arshile Gorky and the Genesis of Abstraction: Drawings from the Early 1930s, 1994–96, no. 29, ill. in color, pp. 58–59, as "Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia". Traveled to: Art Museum, Princeton University, New Jersey, October 29, 1994–January 3, 1995; Milwaukee Art Museum, January 20–April 16, 1995; Stephen Mazoh & Co. Inc., New York, May–June 9, 1995; Baltimore Museum of Art, October 18, 1995–January 21, 1996.
2012a New York
Pace Gallery, New York, Mythology, February 22–April 14, 2012, ill. in color, p. 29, as "Untitled (Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia)," dated c. 1932.
2021 Hong Kong
Hauser & Wirth, Hong Kong, Drawing On The Mind, September 23–November 27, 2021, as "Untitled (Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia)".
Notes
Watermark / Stamp: Arches
Arches paper with watermark, lower left: Ingres [in script]; lower right: L'Ecolier [in script] / C & F
Recto, in pencil, lower right [by Agnes Gorky Phillips]: Gorky

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). 

The drawing appears at upper left in a photograph of Gorky in his 36 Union Square studio, taken c. 1933.

[Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia: Objects], c. 1931–33, D0149. Gorky in his studio at 36 Union Square, c. 1933. Photograph by Alexander Sandow. Courtesy Estate of Helen and Alexander Sandow; Lisa Sandow Lyons and Greg Sandow, executors.
Gorky in his studio at 36 Union Square, c. 1933. Photograph by Alexander Sandow. Courtesy Estate of Helen and Alexander Sandow; Lisa Sandow Lyons and Greg Sandow, executors.
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