Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné
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Catalogue Entry

Exhibitions
1941 San Francisco
San Francisco Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky, August 9–24, 1941, as Xhorkom, dated 1935.
1951a New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Arshile Gorky Memorial Exhibition, January 5–February 18, 1951, no. 19, p. 46, as Xhorkom. Traveled to: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, March 4–April 22, 1951; San Francisco Museum of Art, California, May 9–July 9, 1951.
1957e New York
Poindexter Gallery, New York, The 30s: Painting in New York, June 3–30, 1957, ill. in b/w, p. 6, as Xhorkom.
1957f New York
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 33 Paintings by Arshile Gorky, December 2–28, 1957. (Exhibition catalogue: Sidney Janis Gallery 1957), no. 4, ill. in b/w, as "Image in Xhorkom," dated c. 1936.
1971 Wilmington
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, American Painting Since World War II, June 8–July 11, 1971, ill. in color, cover, as "Composition Xhorkom Summer," Martha Jackson Gallery Collection, New York.
1971 Tokyo
Seibu Department Store, Tokyo, Martha Jackson Gallery Collection, September 17–29, 1971, no. 41, ill. in color, as "Image in Xhorkom Summer".
1973–74 College Park
University of Maryland Art Gallery, Department of Art, University of Maryland, College Park, The Private Collection of Martha Jackson, June 22–September 30, 1973, no. 29, ill. in b/w, p. 21, as "Image in Xhorkom Summer". Traveled to: Finch College Museum of Art, New York, October 16–November 25, 1973; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, January 6–February 10, 1974.
1987 Buffalo
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Abstract Expressionism: The Critical Developments, September 19–November 29, 1987, no. 3, ill. in color, p. 170, as "Image in Xhorkom Summer".
1993 Williamstown
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, Third Williams Alumni Loan Exhibition, June 12–November 28, 1993.
1994d New York
Associated American Artists, New York, Martha Jackson Gallery, 1953 to 1979: Including Appel, Fontana, Francis, Gorky, Gottlieb, Hofmann, Jenkins, Jensen, Mitchell, Nevelson, Tapies, September 14–October 22, 1994, ill. in color, p. 6, as "Xhorkom–Summer".
1996 Nagoya
Aichi Prefectural Museum, Nagoya, Japan, Abstract Expressionism, July 26–September 16, 1996, no. 16, ill. in color, p. 65, as "Xhorkom–Summer". Traveled to: Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, June 6–July 14, 1996; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan, September 29–November 17, 1996.
1997 Tokyo
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Founders and Heirs of the New York School, January 25–March 16, 1997, no. 14, ill. in color, p. 64, as "Xhorkom–Summer". Traveled to: Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai, Japan, April 5–May 25, 1997; Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Japan, June 28–August 3, 1997.
2012 Andover
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. 38, ill. in color, p. 96, as "Xhorkom–Summer". 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.
2019 Venice
Ca'Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice, Italy, Arshile Gorky: 1904–1948, May 8–September 22, 2019, ill. in color, p. 101, as "Image in Khorkom".
Literature
Coates 1951
Coates, Robert M. "The Art Galleries: Moderns—Past and Present." The New Yorker 26, no. 48 (January 20, 1951), discussed p. 62, as Xhorkom.
Greenberg 1957
Greenberg, Clement. "New York painting only yesterday." Art News (New York) 56, no. 4 (Summer 1957), ill. in b/w, p. 59 as "Khorkon"; discussed p. 85, as "still-life".
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. 19, ill. in b/w, p. 57, as "Image in Xhorkom".
Reiff 1959
Reiff, Robert F. "Review." Review of Arshile Gorky, by Ethel Schwabacher. College Art Journal (New York) 18, no. 2 (Winter 1959), discussed p. 191, as "Image of Xhorkom".
Sidney Janis Gallery 1962
Paintings by Arshile Gorky from 1929 to 1948. New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1962. Exhibition catalogue (1962b New York), no. 31, ill. in b/w (in situ), as "View, Gorky Exhibition, December 1957".
Rosenberg 1962a
Rosenberg, Harold. Arshile Gorky: The Man, the Time, the Idea. New York: Horizon Press, 1962. Monograph, ill. in b/w, p. 51, as Xhorkom.
Levy 1966
Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 66. ill. in b/w, p. 90, as "Image in Xhorkom Summer".
Kaplan 1971
Kaplan, Ruth Jillya. "Art Museum's Exhibit Like a Bride With a Blush." Evening Journal (Wilmington, DE), June 11, 1971, discussed, p. 29, as "Composition Xhorkom Summer," dated 1936.
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. 5–6, ill. in b/w, p. 79, as "Image in Xhorkom, Summer".
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. 43, as "Image in Xhorkom Summer".
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. 69–73, as "Image in Khorkom".
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. 148, ill. in b/w, pp. 289–90, as "Image in Khorkom".
Seitz 1983
Seitz, William C. Abstract Expressionist Painting in America. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press for the National Gallery of Art, 1983, fig. 60, ill. in color, as "Image in Xhorkom, Summer".
Kuspit 1987b
Kuspit, Donald. "Arshile Gorky: Images in Support of the Invented Self." In Abstract Expressionism: The Critical Developments. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987. Exhibition catalogue, discussed p. 60, as "Image in Xhorkom Summer".
Rand 1991
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, fig. 5–6, ill. in b/w, p. 86, as "Image in Xhorkom, Summer".
Stitelman 1993
Stitelman, Paul. "Pleasant surprises mark Williams show." Bennington Banner (VT), November 4, 1993, discussed, p. 14, as "Xhorkom Summer".
Balakian 1996
Balakian, Peter. "Arshile Gorky and the Armenian Genocide." Art in America (New York) 84 (February 1996), ill. in color, p. 63, as "Image in Xhorkom".
Herrera 2003
Herrera, Hayden. Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, fig. 32, ill. in color, as "Image in Khorkom".
Beredjiklian 2007
Beredjiklian, Alexandre. Arshile Gorky: sept thèmes majeurs. Suresnes, France: Alphamédian & Johanet; Lisbon: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 2007. Monograph, discussed p. 33, as "Khorkom".
Eisenthal 2023
Eisenthal, Jessica. "Speak to Me About Big Things, Now About Small Things: Arshile Gorky: A Study with Titles." Ursula (New York) 4, no. 9 (Fall/Winter 2023), ill. in color, p. 80; discussed, p. 81, as Xhorkom.
Notes

The inscription on the reverse is known from the Arshile Gorky Research Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art Archives, New York.

On loan: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, October 1, 1974–January 30, 1978.

Commentary

For two weeks in August 1941, the San Francisco Museum of Art was the venue for Gorky's first solo museum show. All but three of the twenty-one works on view were oil paintings and most came directly from the artist's studio. Two paintings were similarly titled and related compositionally. Xhorkom, this painting, is the slightly larger and more colorful of the two, while its counterpart, which is believed to be the earlier work, is titled Image in Khorkom (P147).

Khorkom (also spelled Khorgom, now known as Dilkaya, Turkey) is the name of the village in the Ottoman Empire where Gorky was born. Since Gorky maintained throughout his life that he was born in Russia, the spelling variation for this painting may be a nod to the Russian spelling of the village: Хорком.

In 1966, the Estate of Arshile Gorky exchanged the painting with Martha Jackson Gallery for Enigma (P120).

Gorky often backdated his paintings, which he seems to have done when he dated this painting 1935 for his show at the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1941. He also frequently reworked the same canvas over many years. Here, the date inscribed on the reverse of the original canvas, "1930–1936," could refer to an earlier iteration of the painting. Stylistically, it is more likely that the painting was completed in 1936, as the date inscribed on the front suggests. Curiously, Ethel Schwabacher, Gorky's former student who went on to write the artist's first monograph, told Whitney curator Lloyd Goodrich, while he was preparing the artist's Memorial exhibition in 1951, the very specific information that Gorky completed the painting in January 1938.

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