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Catalogue Entry
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Provenance
The artist
United States WPA Federal Art Project (1935)
City of Newark, New Jersey, by transfer (June 24, 1937)
United States War Assets Administration, Washington, D.C., by leasehold (April 1941)
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, by transfer (March 1948)
Exhibitions
1936c New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New Horizons in American Art, September 14–October 12, 1936, no. 20, as "one completed panel" from Aviation: Evolution of Forms under Aerodynamic Limitations.1936 Newark
Newark Museum, New Jersey, Old and New Paths in American Design, 1720–1936, November 6–December 27, 1936, as "Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations".Literature
Gorky 1936
Gorky, Arshile. My Murals for the Newark Airport: An Interpretation. December 1936, discussed.Highlight 1936
"Art Folio." Highlight (Newark, NJ) 1, no. 1 (December 1936), ill. in b/w (detail; installation view), p. 20.Kiesler 1936
Kiesler, Frederick T. [sic]. "Murals Without Walls: Relating to Gorky's Newark Project." Art Front (New York) 2 (December 18, 1936), ill. in b/w, p. 11, as "Gorky Mural".Newark Ledger 1936
"WPA Show Opens at Museum." The Newark Ledger (NJ), November 8, 1936, ill. in b/w, as "Aviation Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations".New York Times 1936b
"Events Here and There." New York Times, December 13, 1936, discussed, sec. 11, p. 12.Newark Evening News 1936b
"Opens Exhibit Of Federal Art." Newark Evening News (NJ), November 7, 1936, discussed, p. 24.Burrows 1937
Burrows, Carlyle. "New Mural Designs for Local Settings." New York Herald Tribune, August 8, 1937, discussed, p. F6.Lansford 1948
Lansford, Alonzo. "Palette Painter." Art Digest (New York) 23, no. 3 (November 1, 1948), discussed p. 27.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. 32, ill. in b/w, p. 77, as "Panel of the Newark Airport Murals"; discussed pp. 70–80, as "Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations".O'Connor 1968
O'Connor, Francis V. "New Deal Murals in New York." Artforum (New York) 7 (November 1968), discussed pp. 45–46, as "Aviation: Evolution of Forms under Aerodynamic Limitations".Glueck 1976
Glueck, Grace. "Art People." New York Times, December 17, 1976, discussed, p. C18, as "Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations".Berman 1982
Berman, Greta. "Abstractions for Public Spaces, 1935–1943." Arts Magazine (New York) 56, no. 10 (June 1982), discussed p. 85, as "Aviation: Evolution of Forms under Aerodynamic Limitations".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. 57–66, as "Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations".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. 141, pp. 270–81, as "Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations".Anfam 1990a
Anfam, David. Abstract Expressionism. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1990, discussed p. 53, as "Aviation".Patterson 2010
Patterson, Jody. "Modernism and Murals at the 1939 New York World's Fair." American Art (New York) 24, no. 2 (Summer 2010), discussed pp. 60–61.Taylor 2019
Taylor, Michael R. "Arshile Gorky and Frederick Kiesler: 'Elective Affinities.'" In Frederick Kiesler: Face to Face with the Avant-Garde: Essays on Network and Impact, edited by Peter Bogner, Gerd Zillner, Frederick Kiesler Foundation. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2019, fig. 1, ill. in b/w, p. 267; discussed pp. 268–69, as "Activities on the Field".Patterson 2020
Patterson, Jody. Modernism for the Masses: Painters, Politics, and Public Murals in 1930s New York. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2020, figs. 44 and 45, ill. in b/w, p. 107, as "Activites on the Field and Mechanics of Flying, from Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations (Newark Airport Murals)".[Unknown] c. 1936
[unknown title]. c. 1936, discussed.Gorky c. 1936b
Gorky, Arshile. My Murals for the Newark Airport: An Interpretation. c. 1936, discussed.Gorky c. 1936c
Gorky, Arshile. Arshile Gorky, Murals for Newark Airport: General Description (Abridged). c. 1936, discussed.Gorky c. 1936d
Gorky, Arshile. My Murals for the Newark Airport: An Interpretation (Abridged). c. 1936, discussed.Notes
Lost model for Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, second-floor foyer, Newark Airport Administration Building.
Photo: © Arshile Gorky Estate Archive
Gorky at work on Activities on the Field, from Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, in the WPA/FAP studio, 1936. The panel was ultimately installed on the north wall of the second-floor foyer, Newark Airport Administration Building.
© Federal Art Project Photographic Division Collection. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Installation photograph of Old and New Paths in American Design, 1720–1936 at Newark Museum, November 6–December 27, 2021. Visible is Gorky's completed panel, Activities on the Field, from Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations. The panel was ultimately installed on the north wall of the second-floor foyer, Newark Airport Administration Building.
Unknown WPA photographer; © Newark Museum Archives
Activities on the Field, from Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, in the WPA/FAP studio, 1936. The panel was ultimately installed on the north wall of the second-floor foyer, Newark Airport Administration Building.
Photo: © Arshile Gorky Estate Archive
Activities on the Field, from Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, in the WPA/FAP studio, 1936. The panel was ultimately installed on the north wall of the second-floor foyer, Newark Airport Administration Building.
Photo: © Arshile Gorky Estate Archive
Activities on the Field, from Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, in the WPA/FAP studio, 1936. The panel was ultimately installed on the north wall of the second-floor foyer, Newark Airport Administration Building.
Photo: © Arshile Gorky Estate Archive
Activities on the Field (left) and Mechanics of Flying (right; P141w), from Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, northeast corner of the second-floor foyer, Newark Airport Administration Building. Photograph taken April 17, 1940. Gelatin silver print, 10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm). Gift of Dorothy C. Miller, 1979; Collection of The Newark Museum of Art (79.850).
Photo: Allen; © Newark Museum Archives
Activities on the Field, from Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, north wall of the second-floor foyer, Newark Administration Building. Photograph taken April 17, 1940. Gelatin silver print, 10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm). Gift of Dorothy C. Miller, 1979; Collection of The Newark Museum of Art (79.851).
Photo: Allen; © Newark Museum Archives
Modern Aviation, two panels from Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, south wall of the second-floor foyer, Newark Airport Administration Building. Photograph taken April 17, 1940. Gelatin silver print, 10 x 8 in (25.4 x 20.3 cm). Gift of Dorothy C. Miller, 1979; Collection of The Newark Museum of Art (79.858).
Photo: Allen; © Newark Museum Archives
Lost model for Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, second-floor foyer, Newark Airport Administration Building. Detail of the "South Wall," or Modern Aviation.
Photo: Courtesy the Frances Mulhall Achilles Library and Archives, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Lost model for Aviation: Evolution of Forms Under Aerodynamic Limitations, second-floor foyer, Newark Airport Administration Building. Detail of the "West Wall," or Early Aviation.
Photo: Courtesy the Frances Mulhall Achilles Library and Archives, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Related Work
Theme: Mural
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