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Provenance
Exhibitions
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Arshile Gorky Memorial Exhibition, January 5–February 18, 1951, no. 1, p. 46, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated 1922. Traveled to: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, March 4–April 22, 1951; San Francisco Museum of Art, California, May 9–July 9, 1951.
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey, Arshile Gorky: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, October 6–26, 1952, no. 1, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated 1922.
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, Two Lyric Abstractionists: Gorky, Works of the Middle Period / Trökes, Recent Gouaches and Drawings, March 31–April 24, 1954, no. 45, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, December 19, 1962–February 12, 1963. (Exhibition catalogue: Seitz 1962), no. 10, ill. in b/w, p. 14; p. 53, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated c. 1933. Traveled to: Washington Gallery of Modern Art, D.C., March 12–April 14, 1963.
Arts Council of Great Britain, London (organizer), Arshile Gorky, Paintings and Drawings / Arshile Gorky: Schilderijen en Tekeningen, 1965, no. 13, ill. in b/w, as "Portret van Vartoosh / Portrait of Vartoosh," dated c. 1930. 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).
Arts Council of Great Britain, London (organizer), Tate Gallery, Arshile Gorky: Paintings and Drawings, April 2–May 2, 1965, no. 12, ill. in b/w, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated c. 1930.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., The Golden Door: Artist Immigrants of America 1876–1976, May 20–October 20, 1976, no. 66, ill. in b/w, p. 195, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
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. 4, ill. in color, p. 11; ill. in b/w, p. 21; p. 43, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated mid- to late 1930s.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 66, ill. in b/w, p. 114, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," 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.
Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., John Graham: Artist and Avatar, July 9–September 4, 1988, no. 80, ill. in b/w, p. 37, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated c. 1933–34. Traveled to: Neuberger Museum, State University of New York at Purchase, June 25–September 12, 1987; Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California, October 23, 1987–January 3, 1988; University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, January 20–March 20, 1988; David and Alfred Smart Gallery, University of Chicago, April 14–June 12, 1988.
Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, October 17–December 23, 1989, no. 8, ill. in color, p. 73, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated 1933–34. Traveled to: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, January 19–March 25, 1990.
Gagosian Gallery, New York, Arshile Gorky: Portraits, March 20–April 27, 2002. (Exhibition catalogue: Gagosian Gallery 2002), ill. in color, pp. 62–63, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated c. 1933–34.
Fresno Art Museum and the Armenian Museum (organizers), Fresno Art Museum, California, Vosdanik Manouk Adoian a.k.a. Arshile Gorky, April 7–June 4, 2006, no. 7, ill. in color, p. 25; p. 50, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated c. 1933–34.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, October 15, 2009–January 10, 2010. (Exhibition catalogue: Taylor 2009a), pl. 25, ill. in color, p. 185; p. 387, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated 1933–34, [exhibited in Philadelphia only]. 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).
Literature
Coates, Robert M. "The Art Galleries: Moderns—Past and Present." The New Yorker 26, no. 48 (January 20, 1951), discussed p. 60, as "portrait of his sister Vartoosh".
Genauer, Emily. "Art and Artists: The Whitney's Memorial Exhibit and the Arshile Gorky Tragedy." New York Herald Tribune, January 7, 1951, discussed p. 9, "The earliest picture in the show, a 1922 portrait of his sister, is straight blue-period Picasso."
Devree, Howard. "Whitney to Offer Arshile Gorky Art: Memorial Show of Paintings and Drawings Opens at the Museum Tomorrow." New York Times, January 4, 1951, discussed, p. 27, as "a portrait of his sister dated 1922".
Devree, Howard. "A Memorable Year: The Modern Movement at Its 1913 Pitch—The Whitney's Gorky Memorial." New York Times, January 7, 1951, discussed, sec. 2, p. 9, as "the flatly realistic portrait of a sister in 1922".
Schwabacher, Ethel. Arshile Gorky. Introduction by Meyer Schapiro. New York: The Macmillan Company for the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1957. Monograph, fig. 1, ill. in b/w, p. 24, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated 1922.
Barilli, Renato. "La Pittura di Arshile Gorky." La Biennale 43 (April–June 1961), ill. in b/w, p. 13, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Reiff, Robert F. "A Stylistic Analysis of Arshile Gorky's Art from 1943–1948." Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, New York, 1961, fig. 2, ill. in b/w, p. 280, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Lichtblau, Charlotte. "Gorky retrospective." Philadelphia Inquirer, December 23, 1962, ill. in b/w, p. 6, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Cheshire, Maxine. "To Broaden Knowledge of Modern Art New Frontier Wives Give Guided Tours." The Washington Post (Washington, D.C.), March 14, 1963, ill. in b/w, p. E1, installation photograph.
Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 26, ill. in color, p. 50, as "Portrait of Vartoosh," dated c. 1933.
Morgan, S. "Becoming Arshile Gorky." Artscribe (London), no. 31 (October 1981), ill. in b/w, p. 19, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
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. 2–1, ill. in b/w, p. 13, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
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. 33, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
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, 76, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
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. 111, ill. in b/w, pp. 238–39, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Lader, Melvin P. Arshile Gorky. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. Monograph, fig. 53, ill. in color, p. 58, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, fig. 2–1, ill. in b/w, p. 15, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Herrera, Hayden. Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, fig. 25, ill. in color, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Kolbe, Regina. "Dreams Form The Bristles Of The Artist's Brush: Arshile Gorky, The Last Great Surrealist." Antiques and The Arts Weekly (Newton, CT) (October 23, 2009), ill. in color, p. 69, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Matttison, Robert S. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafica, 2009. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 15, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Theriault, Kim S. Rethinking Arshile Gorky. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009. Monograph, pl. 5, ill. in color, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
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. 44, ill. in color, p. 139, as "Portrait of Vartoosh".
Notes
Portraits (sitter identified): Vartoosh Adoian Mooradian (artist's sister)
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