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Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
P108
(Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife)
1933–34
Oil on board mounted on wood panel
8 5/8 x 14 1/4 in. (21.9 x 36.2 cm)
Front, upper left: A Gorky / [paraph] / 23
Reverse not inscribed
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.,
Gift of the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Foundation (66.2150)
Provenance
The artist
Joseph H. Hirshhorn, New York (c. 1941–42)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., by gift (May 17, 1966)
Exhibitions
1962–63b New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, December 19, 1962–February 12, 1963. (Exhibition catalogue: Seitz 1962), no. 8, p. 53, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated 1923? Traveled to: Washington Gallery of Modern Art, D.C., March 12–April 14, 1963.
1965 AC–Brussels and Rotterdam
Arts Council of Great Britain, London (organizer), Arshile Gorky, Paintings and Drawings / Arshile Gorky: Schilderijen en Tekeningen, 1965, no. 14, as "Portret van mijzelf en mijn denkbeeldige echtgenote / Portrait of myself and my imaginary wife," dated 1940. Traveled to: Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, May 22–June 27, 1965; Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, July 24–September 5, 1965 (Museum Boymans van Beuingen 1965).
1965 AC–London
Arts Council of Great Britain, London (organizer), Tate Gallery, Arshile Gorky: Paintings and Drawings, April 2–May 2, 1965, no. 14, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated 1940.
1979 Washington, D.C.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Arshile Gorky: The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection, October 4–November 25, 1979, no. 7, ill. in color, p. 12; ill. in b/w, p. 23; p. 43, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated probably mid- to late 1930s.
1981–82 New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 65, ill. in b/w, p. 113, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated mid to late 1930s. Traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, September 12–November 6, 1981; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 3, 1981–February 28, 1982.
1989–90 Madrid
Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, October 17–December 23, 1989, [not in catalogue]. Traveled to: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, January 19–March 25, 1990.
2002d New York
Gagosian Gallery, New York, Arshile Gorky: Portraits, March 20–April 27, 2002. (Exhibition catalogue: Gagosian Gallery 2002), ill. in color, pp. 48–49, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated c. 1933–34.
2009–10 Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, October 15, 2009–January 10, 2010. (Exhibition catalogue: Taylor 2009a), pl. 24, ill. in color, p. 184; p. 387, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife". Traveled to: Tate Modern, London, February 10–May 3, 2010 (Gale 2010); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, June 6–September 20, 2010 (Gale 2010).
2019 Venice
Ca'Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice, Italy, Arshile Gorky: 1904–1948, May 8–September 22, 2019, ill. in color, p. 84, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Literature
Schwabacher 1957
Schwabacher, Ethel. Arshile Gorky. Introduction by Meyer Schapiro. New York: The Macmillan Company for the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1957. Monograph, fig. 3, ill. in b/w, p. 29, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated 1923.
Sarkisian 1958
Sarkisian, 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. 8, as "Portrait of Artist and His Imaginary Wife".
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. 3, ill. in b/w, p. 281, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Rosenberg 1962a
Rosenberg, Harold. Arshile Gorky: The Man, the Time, the Idea. New York: Horizon Press, 1962. Monograph, discussed p. 48, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Levy 1966
Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 16, ill. in b/w, p. 40, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated 1923?
Herrera 1975b
Herrera, Hayden. "The Artist's Self Image: Self Portraits by Arshile Gorky." In Arshile Gorky: Drawings to Paintings. Austin: University of Texas at Austin, 1975. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 10, ill. in b/w, p. 54, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated 1923.
Kagitani 1976
Kagitani, Y. "Arshile Gorky: A Man Who Lived in the Middle of Solitude." Mizue (みづゑ) (Tokyo) 9, no. 858 (September 1976), ill. in b/w, p. 24.
Quaytman 1976
Quaytman, Harvey. "Arshile Gorky's Early Paintings." Arts Magazine (New York) 50, no. 7 (March 1976), discussed p. 105, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Rose 1976
Rose, Barbara. "Arshile Gorky and John Graham: Eastern Exiles in a Western World." Arts Magazine (New York) 50, no. 7 (March 1976), ill. in b/w, p. 65, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Herrera 1976a
Herrera, Hayden. "Gorky's Self Portraits: The Artist by Himself." Art in America (New York) 64 (March–April 1976), fig. 13, ill. in color, p. 63, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated c. 1923–41.
Soyer 1977
Soyer, Raphael. Diary of an Artist. Washington, D.C.: New Republic Books, 1977, discussed p. 244, as "Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Lader 1978
Lader, Melvin P. "Graham, Gorky, de Kooning, and the 'Ingres Revival' in America." Arts Magazine (New York) 52 (March 1978), discussed p. 99n, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Suenaga 1979
Suenaga, Terukazu. "Mirror of Memory: Gorky's Cruel Change." Mizue (みづゑ) (Tokyo) 9, no. 894 (September 1979), ill. in b/w, p. 38, dated 1923.
Morgan 1981
Morgan, S. "Becoming Arshile Gorky." Artscribe (London), no. 31 (October 1981), ill. in b/w, p. 20, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
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. 2–2, ill. in b/w, p. 15, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated 1923.
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. 36, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Karp 1982
Karp, Diane. "Arshile Gorky: The Language of Art." Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1982, fig. 16, ill. in b/w, p. 184, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Reiff 1982
Reiff, Robert. "Review." Review of Arshile Gorky: The Implications of Symbols, by Harry Rand. Art Journal (New York) 42, no. 1 (Spring 1982), discussed p. 75, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
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. 49, 51, 56, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
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. 108, ill. in b/w, pp. 236–37, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Mooradian 1983
Mooradian, Karlen. "The Wars of Arshile Gorky." Ararat (New York) 24 (Autumn 1983), discussed p. 12, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Lader 1985
Lader, Melvin P. Arshile Gorky. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. Monograph, fig. 23, ill. in color, p. 29, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Waldman 1988
Waldman, Diane. Willem de Kooning. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988, fig. 18, ill. in b/w, p. 30, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Corrin 1990
Corrin, Lisa. "Toward Armenia: Notes of a Journey." In Arshile Gorky: 1904–1948. London: Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1990. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 3, ill. in b/w, p. 168, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Rand 1991
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, fig. 2–2, ill. in b/w, p. 17, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated c. 1923.
Akiskal and Akiskal 1996
Akiskal, Kareen K., and Hagop S. Akiskal. "Abstract Expressionism as Psychobiography: The Life and Suicide of Arshile Gorky." In Depression and the Spiritual in Modern Art: Homage to Miró, Schildkraut, Joseph J. and Aurora Otero, eds. Chichester (U.K.) and New York: John Wiley, 1996, fig. 19–6, ill. in b/w, p. 230, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Cotter 2002
Cotter, Holland. "Suspended Between Modernism and an Armenian Past." New York Times, April 12, 2002, discussed, p. E35, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Herrera 2002
Herrera, Hayden. "Gorky's Distant Likenesses." Art in America (New York) 90 (November 2002), ill. in color, p. 148, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated c. 1933–34.
Kunitz 2002
Kunitz, Daniel. "Gallery Chronicle." The New Criterion (New York) 20 (May 2002), discussed p. 50.
Herrera 2003
Herrera, Hayden. Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, fig. 23, ill. in color, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Rosand 2004
Rosand, David. The Invention of Painting in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004, fig. 67, ill. in b/w, p. 137, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
FitzGerald 2006a
FitzGerald, Michael. "Picasso and American Art: Chapter Three (1930–1939)." In Picasso and American Art. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, in association with Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2006. Exhibition catalogue, discussed p. 164, as "portrait of myself and my imaginary wife".
Beredjiklian 2007
Beredjiklian, Alexandre. Arshile Gorky: sept thèmes majeurs. Suresnes, France: Alphamédian & Johanet; Lisbon: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 2007. Monograph, discussed pp. 63, 73, as "Autoportrait avec ma femme imaginaire," dated 1933–34 ?
Mattison 2009
Matttison, Robert S. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafica, 2009. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 12, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife," dated c. 1933–34.
Theriault 2009a
Theriault, Kim S. Rethinking Arshile Gorky. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009. Monograph, pl. 4, ill. in color, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Imaginary Wife," dated 1933.
Agee 2012
Agee, William C. "Graham, Gorky, de Kooning: A New Classicism, an Alternate Modernism." In American Vanguards: Graham, Davis, Gorky, de Kooning, and Their Circle, 1927–1942. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 43, ill. in color, p. 139, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Wullschläger 2019
Wullschläger, Jackie. "Abstraction in Venice — Jean Arp, Arshile Gorky and Helen Frankenthaler." The Financial Times (London), May 18, 2019 (accessed online), ill. in color, as "Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife".
Notes

The painting is inscribed in black paint with flourishes in pink paint.

Reverse, in ink, on board, upper left [not in artist's hand]: JH.1082. / A GORKY / "TWO HEADS, MAN AND WOMAN"; JHF.64.17; in crayon, center left: JH.1082 [crossed out]; in ink, lower left: #7 [sideways]; in crayon, center: 19/21; center right: 91-5; in ink, lower right: 13 x 8 [sideways]

The board was mounted on wood panel by someone other than the artist; the inscription information and marking on the reverse of the original board are known from the records of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Commentary

The titling of this painting has a complicated history, as do almost all of the seventeen paintings that Joseph H. Hirshhorn (1899–1981) purchased directly from the artist between 1941 and 1943. It originates with a list of Hirshhorn’s purchases, thought to have been composed by the artist's wife Agnes "Mougouch" Gorky (1921–2013), and dated March 20, 1943, on which the painting is titled Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife (Found).1 While a 1979 exhibition dedicated to the Hirshhorn's collection of Gorky paintings and drawings was under preparation, the 1943 list was brought to the curator’s attention, yet the historical title, Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife, was retained.

As it appears here, the painting’s title is based on Jim M. Jordan’s catalogue raisonné where it was published by its most widely adopted appellation, Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife, yet set entirely within quotes, indicating that it was a lifetime designation.2 In 1949, Joseph Hirshhorn claimed that Gorky never provided him with titles for the works he had acquired, but the 1943 checklist presents the possibility that Gorky did assign a title to this work, namely, Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife (Found).3

Gorky backdated the painting to 1923 at the time of Hirshhorn's purchase in the early 1940s. According to Mougouch, it is likely that Gorky reworked the painting into the early 1940s during a "period before he went back to landscape and he was looking for material within his own studio, from his own paintings."4

The undulations on the painting's surface—such as the raised crease through the composition's center—suggest that the original support may be more complex than it has been historically described (i.e. "board"). Pending further in-depth technical analysis, the existence of a complex support, and its exact material makeup, is uncertain.

For over a decade—between c. 1927 and 1942—Gorky studied and emulated the lessons of Pablo Picasso’s (1881–1973) oeuvre: his early twentieth-century explorations into Primitive art; complex arrangements of cubism; simplified still lifes of the early 1920s; neoclassical turn of the interwar period; and biomorphic forms that began in the later 1920s and continued into the following decade. Though Picasso's influence is clear in a number of works, Gorky almost never directly copied a painting by the artist. Melvin P. Lader believes, however, that the male head is informed by Picasso's painting Head of a Sailor, 1907 (Private collection). 

1. Hirshhorn would later recall purchasing the paintings a "year or two earlier than 1943." On Agnes's authorship and Hirshhorn's recollection of an earlier acquisition date, see: Phyllis Rosenzweig, “Catalog,” in Arshile Gorky: The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection Smithsonian Institution, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979), 8, fn. 1. “Sold to Mr. Joseph H. Hirshhorn,” March 20, 1943, AGF Archives. Letter from Agnes Phillips to Phyllis Rosenzweig, November 12, 1977, AGF Archives.

2. Jim M. Jordan, "Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings," in Jim M. Jordan and Robert Goldwater, The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Catalogue (New York and London: New York University Press, 1982), 236.

3. “Gorky never gave me titles or a bill for these pictures and if he did I do not remember receiving one.” Letter from Joseph H. Hirshhorn to Wolfgang Schwabacher, February 21, 1949, AGF Archives.

4. Agnes Gorky Fielding, as quoted in Jordan, 345.

After works by other artists: Pablo Picasso

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