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P119
(Organization)
c. 1933–34
Oil on canvas mounted on Masonite
14 x 22 in. (35.6 x 55.9 cm)
Front, lower right: GORKY
Reverse not seen
Reverse not seen
Provenance
Exhibitions
1935a New York possibly
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Abstract Painting in America, February 12–March 22, 1935, no. 49, as "Organization," lent by the artist.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. 43, as "Organization".
Baltimore Museum of Art, If Wishes Could Buy, October 4–November 6, 1955, no. 71, as "Organization".
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, December 19, 1962–February 12, 1963. (Exhibition catalogue: Seitz 1962), no. 24, p. 53, as "Organization," dated c. 1934. 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. 35, ill. in b/w, as "Organisatie / Organisation," dated c. 1933. 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. 26, ill. in b/w, as "Organization," dated c. 1933.
Baltimore Museum of Art, From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists, October 22–December 8, 1968, no. 105, ill. in b/w, p. 128, as "Organization".
University of New Mexico Art Gallery, Albuquerque, Fifty Years Ago, September 18–December 5, 1980.
Sierra Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, 1931 America: The Artist's View, September 11–October 31, 1982. Traveled to: Gallery of San Diego State University, California, November–December 1982.
Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America, 1927–1944, November 5–December 31, 1983, no. 56, ill. in b/w, p. 153, as "Organization (Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia)". Traveled to: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, January 26–March 25, 1984; Minneapolis Institute of Art, April 15–June 3, 1984; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, June 28–September 9, 1984.
Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona, Arizona Collects Twentieth Century Paintings, January 19–March 23, 1986, pl. 42, ill. in b/w, p. 58; ill. in b/w, p. 15, as "Organization".
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, October 15, 2009–January 10, 2010. (Exhibition catalogue: Taylor 2009a), pl. 54, ill. in color, p. 210; p. 387, as "Organization (Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia)". 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).
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, American Vanguards: Graham, Davis, Gorky, de Kooning, and Their Circle, 1927–1942, September 21–December 31, 2012, p. 168; pl. 40, ill. in color, pp. ii–iii; ill. in color, p. 98, as "Organization (Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia)". Traveled to: Neuberger Museum, Purchase College, State University of New York, January 29–April 28, 2012; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, June 9–August 19, 2012.
University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, The Modern Spirit: Selections from the Edward J. Gallagher III Memorial Collection, November 22, 2013–March 24, 2014.
Literature
Porter, Fairfield. "Reviews and Previews." Artnews (New York) 53 (April 1954), discussed, p. 53.
Rosenberg, Harold. "Arshile Gorky, His Art and His Influence." Portfolio & Artnews Annual (New York), no. 5 (1961), ill. in b/w, p. 104, as "Organization".
Gerdan, Mary. "Excitement Awaits at UA Art Gallery." Tucson Daily Citizen (Tucson, AZ), February 2, 1965, p. 7, ill. in ill. in b/w, as "Organization".
Friedlander, Alberta. "At the Galleries." Tucson Daily Citizen (Tucson, AZ), June 10, 1972, p. 6, ill. in b/w, as "Organization," dated 1929–34.
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. 47–48, as "Organization".
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. 119, ill. in b/w, p. 250, as "Organization".
Bermingham, Peter, ed. Paintings and Sculpture in the Permanent Collection with Selected Drawings and Watercolors. Tucson: University of Arizona Museum of Art, 1983, no. 184, ill. in b/w, p. 80, as "Organization".
Beredjiklian, Alexandre. Arshile Gorky: sept thèmes majeurs. Suresnes, France: Alphamédian & Johanet; Lisbon: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 2007. Monograph, discussed p. 27, as "Organisation," dated 1936–37.
Matttison, Robert S. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafica, 2009. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 35, as "Organization (Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia)".
Eastham, Ben, ed. Arshile Gorky: New York City. Zurich: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2025. Monograph, discussed p. 32; ill. in color, pp. 36–37, as "Organization".
Notes
The canvas was mounted on Masonite by someone other than the artist.
Commentary
Although the title is identified as lifetime in Jim M. Jordan's catalogue raisonné, there is no known extant documentation confirming its origin with the artist and we have therefore designated it as posthumous.1
1. Jim M. Jordan, "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), 250.
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