Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Peter Schälchli

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D0171a
[Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia: Objects]
c. 1931–33
Ink on paper
22 5/16 x 30 5/16 in. (56.7 x 77 cm)
Not inscribed
Private collection
Provenance
Estate of Arshile Gorky (1948)
Private collection (1975)
[Hauser & Wirth (March 2017)]
Private collection, Switzerland (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. 31, ill. in b/w, pp. 62–63, 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.
1998–99b New York
Gagosian Gallery, New York, Arshile Gorky: Paintings and Drawings, 1929–1942, October 27, 1998–January 9, 1999, ill. in color, pp. 58–59 (Group 3: Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia as A); p. 95, as "Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia," dated c. 1931–34.
Notes

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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