loading 
Catalogue Entry
P078
Composition No. 3
c. 1929–30
Oil on canvas
33 1/2 x 23 1/2 in. (85.1 x 59.7 cm)
Front not inscribed
Reverse, upper stretcher bar, center: ↑ TOP 1929. A. Gorky
Reverse, upper stretcher bar, center: ↑ TOP 1929. A. Gorky
Private collection
Provenance
The artist
[J.B. Neumann / New Art Circle, New York (1930)]
The artist (after March 1935)
Estate of Arshile Gorky (1948)
Private collection (1975)
[Hauser & Wirth (2020)]
Private collection (September 2021)
Exhibitions
1935a New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Abstract Painting in America, February 12–March 22, 1935, no. 48, as Composition No. 3, lent by J. B. Neumann, New York.Literature
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. 35, 39, 43, as "Composition".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. 78, ill. in b/w, pp. 205–206, as "Composition".Beredjiklian 2007
Beredjiklian, Alexandre. Arshile Gorky: sept thèmes majeurs. Suresnes, France: Alphamédian & Johanet; Lisbon: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 2007. Monograph, discussed p. 24, as "Composition," dated 1929–31.Notes
The inscription on the upper stretcher bar is known from a photograph provided by the owner.
Commentary
The painting's lifetime title, Composition No. 3, originates from its first public display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, in 1935.1
Gorky often backdated his paintings and also frequently reworked the same canvas over many years. Here, the date inscribed on the original upper stretcher bar, "1929," likely refers to the former scenario. It is also possible that Gorky reused an existing stretcher, which he is known to have done, especially as a cost-saving measure. Stylistically, it is more likely that the painting was completed c. 1929–30.
1. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Abstract Painting in America, February 12–March 22, 1935. Exhibition catalogue with text by Stuart Davis.
