Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné
Print this page

Catalogue Entry

enlarge
Photo: Katherine Du Tiel; © The Arshile Gorky Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
P068
Greek Torso
c. 1928–29
Oil on canvas
36 1/8 x 46 in. (91.8 x 116.8 cm)
Front, lower left: A. Gorky 1926
Reverse not seen
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David McCulloch (85.394)
Exhibitions
1936b New York
Guild Art Gallery, New York, Group Show, May 25–June 13, 1936, no. 7, as Greek Torso.
1941 San Francisco
San Francisco Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky, August 9–24, 1941, as "Torso," dated 1926 (unconfirmed).
1951a New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Arshile Gorky Memorial Exhibition, January 5–February 18, 1951, no. 3, ill. in b/w, p. 11, as "The Antique Cast," dated 1926. Traveled to: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, March 4–April 22, 1951; San Francisco Museum of Art, California, May 9–July 9, 1951.
1952 Princeton
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey, Arshile Gorky: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, October 6–26, 1952, no. 2, as "The Antique Cast," dated 1926.
1975–76 Austin
University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin, Arshile Gorky: Drawings to Paintings, October 12–November 23, 1975, as "The Antique Cast" (exhibited in Austin and San Francisco 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.
1981–82 New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 2, ill. in b/w, p. 63, as "The Antique Cast," dated 1926. Traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, September 11–November 8, 1981; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 3, 1981–February 28, 1982.
1991 San Francisco
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Toward a New Museum: Recent Acquisitions in Painting and Sculpture, 1985–1991, 1991, p. 20, as "The Antique Cast."
2006 Fresno
Fresno Art Museum and the Armenian Museum, California, Vosdanik Manouk Adoian a.k.a. Arshile Gorky, April 7–June 4, 2006, no. 3, ill. in color, p. 21, as "The Antique Cast."
2009–10 Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, October 15, 2009–January 10, 2010, no. 3, ill. in color, p. 162, as "The Antique Cast." Traveled to: Tate Modern, London, February 10–May 3, 2010. (Gale 2010).; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, June 6–September 20, 2010.
Literature
Burrows 1936
Burrows, Carlyle. "A Group Show." New York Herald Tribune, May 31, 1936, discussed, as Greek Torso.
Genauer 1936
E.G. [Emily Genauer]. "Paintings by Anna Walinska." New York World-Telegram, June 6, 1936, discussed, as Greek Torso.
Klein 1936
Klein, Jerome. "Review." New York Post, June 6 1936, discussed, as Greek Torso.
Sayre 1936
Sayre, Ann H. "Walinska, Forbes, Gorky and Others." Artnews (New York) 34 (June 6, 1936), discussed p. 9, as Greek Torso.
Devree 1936c
Devree, Howard. "Ushered in With June—First Exhibition by Index of American Design—New Group and One-Man Shows." New York Times, May 31, 1936, discussed, as Greek Torso.
Loftus 1952
Loftus, John. "Arshile Gorky: A Monograph." M.A. Thesis, Columbia University, New York, 1952, pl. I, ill. in b/w, as "The Antique Cast."
Schwabacher 1957
Schwabacher, Ethel. Arshile Gorky. New York: The Macmillan Company for the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1957. Monograph, fig. 5, ill. in b/w, p. 33, as "The Antique Cast," dated 1926.
Sarkissian 1958
Sarkissian, Mardiros. "Arshile Gorky—A Struggle for Recognition." Review of Arshile Gorky, by Ethel K. Schwabacher. Hoosharar (New York, Amherst and Northampton, MA) 45, no. 3 (February 1, 1958), ill. in b/w, p. 9, as "The Antique Cast."
Reiff 1961
Reiff, Robert F. "A Stylistic Analysis of Arshile Gorky's Art from 1943–1948." Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, New York, 1961, fig. 6, ill. in b/w, p. 284, as "The Antique Cast."
Kainen 1976
Kainen, Jacob. "Memories of Arshile Gorky." Arts Magazine (New York) 50, no. 7 (March 1976), discussed p. 96, as "The Antique Cast."
Waldman 1981
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. 22, as "The Antique Cast."
Jordan 1982a
Jordan, Jim M. "The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: New Discoveries, New Sources, and Chronology." In The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Catalogue, by Jim M. Jordan and Robert Goldwater. New York and London: New York University Press, 1982, discussed pp. 31–32, as "The Antique Cast."
Jordan 1982b
Jordan, Jim M. "Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings." In The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Catalogue, by Jim M. Jordan and Robert Goldwater. New York and London: New York University Press, 1982, no. 68, ill. in b/w, pp. 192–93, as "The Antique Cast."
Seitz 1983
Seitz, William C. Abstract Expressionist Painting in America. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press for the National Gallery of Art, 1983, fig. 45, ill. in b/w, as "The Antique Cast."
Beredjiklian 2007
Beredjiklian, Alexandre. Arshile Gorky: sept thèmes majeurs. Suresnes, France: Alphamédian & Johanet; Lisbon: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 2007. Monograph, discussed pp. 24, 33, 52, as "Le moulage antique."
Notes
The reverse is covered by a backing board; no documentation of the reverse of the original canvas has been made available. The stretcher bars have been replaced.

Commentary

The painting is after Henri Matisse's (1869–1954) 1908 painting L'Ilyssus du Parthénon (location unknown), a color reproduction of which Gorky owned. An identical colorplate was included in the March 1927 issue of the journal, The Dial (vol. LXXXII), appearing between a "comment" by J.S.W. [James Sibley Watson] on Thomas Craven's essay, "Photography and Painting," and an essay by George Saintsbury.1 As the only known color reproduction of the painting printed during Gorky's lifetime, it was likely his source.

Gorky often backdated his paintings and also frequently reworked the same canvas over many years. Here, the date inscribed at lower left, "1926," likely refers to the former scenario. Stylistically, it is more likely that the painting was completed c. 1928–29. It should be noted, however, that when the work was shown in 1951 as part of the Whitney's Memorial Exhibition and, a year later, in 1952, at Princeton University's Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, the date 1926 was given. 

When the Austrian-American artist Mina Boehm Metzger (1877–1975), an early pupil and devoted patron of Gorky's, purchased this painting from the artist's dealer, Julien Levy (1906–1981), on July 5, 1947, Gorky received a total of $960 after the subtracted 20 percent sales commission.

1. George Saintsbury, "Irony," The Dial LXXXII (March 1927): 181–87. J.S.W. [James Sibley Watson], "Comment," in ibid: 180; the comment is written in response to: Thomas Craven, "Photography and Painting," The Dial LXXIX (September 1925): 195–202.

Henri Matisse, Still-Life with Statue (L'Ilyssus du Parthénon), 1908, oil on canvas (24 x 28¾ in.). Original color reproduction from Gorky's library.
Photo: © 2021 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

After works by other artists: Matisse

Related Work