Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
P248
Garden in Sochi
1941
Oil on canvas
44 1/4 x 62 1/4 in. (112.4 x 158.1 cm)
Front, lower left: A. GORKY
Reverse not seen
The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Purchase Fund and gift of Mr. and Mrs. Wolfgang S. Schwabacher (by exchange). (335.1942)
Exhibitions
1941c New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Annual Exhibition of Paintings by Artists Under Forty, November 12–December 30, 1941, no. 51 or 52, as "Painting".
1943 New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Recent Acquisitions: The Work of Young Americans, June 17–July 25, 1943, as Garden in Sochi.
1944a New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Art in Progress: A Survey Prepared for the Fifteenth Anniversary of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 24–October 15, 1944, ill. in b/w, p. 84, as Garden in Sochi.
1945 Toronto
Art Gallery of Toronto, Museum's Choice: Contemporary American Paintings, February 2–25, 1945, no. 53, ill. in b/w, as Garden in Sochi.
1945–46a New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Museum Collection of Painting and Sculpture: A Selection, June 20, 1945–February 13, 1946, as Garden in Sochi.
1946c New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Fourteen Americans, September 10–December 8, 1946 (Exhibition catalogue: Miller, D. 1946), no. 31, p. 77; ill. in b/w, p. 20, as Garden in Sochi.
1947 CE–MoMA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Department of Circulating Exhibitions (organizer), Fourteen Americans, 1947, no. 18, as Garden in Sochi. Traveled to: Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, January 5–26, 1947; Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida, February 7–March 10, 1947; Cincinnati Modern Art Society, March 20–April 17, 1947; San Francisco Museum of Art, May 6–June 1, 1947; Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, June 15–30, 1947; Indiana University Art Center Gallery, Bloomington, October 11–18, 1947.
1948c New York
Julien Levy Gallery, New York, Arshile Gorky, 1905–1948, November 16–December 4, 1948, no. 2, as Garden in Sochi.
1950 Venice
XXV Biennale di Venezia, U.S. Pavillion, Venice, Italy, Gorky, Pollock, de Kooning, June 3–October 15, 1950, no. 71, p. 394, as "Giardino a Sochi".
1951a New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Arshile Gorky Memorial Exhibition, January 5–February 18, 1951, no. 27, ill. in b/w, p. 22; p. 47, as Garden in Sochi. Traveled to: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, March 4–April 22, 1951; San Francisco Museum of Art, California, May 9–July 9, 1951.
1952 Princeton
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey, Arshile Gorky: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, October 6–26, 1952, no. 8, as Garden in Sochi.
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. 44, ill. in b/w, p. 27; p. 54, as Garden in Sochi. Traveled to: Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Washington, D.C, March 12–April 14, 1963.
1969b New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, The New American Painting and Sculpture: The First Generation, June 18–October 5, 1969, no. 18, as Garden in Sochi.
1976b Washington D.C.
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. 68, ill. in b/w, p. 198, as Garden in Sochi.
1981–82 New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 124, ill. in b/w, p. 158, as Garden in Sochi. Traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, September 12–November 6, 1981; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 3, 1981–February 28, 1982.
1983–84 Pittsburgh
Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America, 1927–1944, November 5–December 31, 1983, ill. in b/w, fig. 13, p. 156, as Garden in Sochi (not exhibited). 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.
1985 Northampton
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, Dorothy C. Miller: With an Eye to American Art, April 19–June 16, 1985, no. 16, ill. in b/w, as Garden in Sochi.
1989–90 Madrid
Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, October 17–December 23, 1989, no. 28, ill. in color, p. 95, as Garden in Sochi. Traveled to: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, January 19–March 25, 1990.
1995–96 Fort Worth / Buffalo
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo (organizers), Arshile Gorky: The Breakthrough Years, 1995–96, no. 1, ill. in color, p. 91, as Garden in Sochi. Traveled to: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C, May 7–September 17, 1995; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, October 13–December 31, 1995; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, January 13–March 17, 1996.
1999 Frankfurt
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Between Art and Life: Vom Abstrakten Expressionismus zur Pop Art, April 30–July 10, 1999, ill. in color, p. 52, as "Garden in Sochi (Third Version)".
1999–2000 Madrid
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Surrealistas en el exilio y los inicios de la Escuela de Nueva York, December 21, 1999–February 27, 2000, ill. in color, p. 110, as "Garden in Sochi / Jardín en Sochi".
2009–10 Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, October 15, 2009–January 10, 2010 (Exhibition catalogue: Taylor 2009a), pl. 95, ill. in color, p. 257; p. 389, as Garden in Sochi. Traveled to: Tate Modern, London, February 10–May 3, 2010; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, June 6–September 20, 2010.
Literature
Jewell 1943
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Museums: The Bache Collection—Contemporaries." New York Times, June 20, 1943, discussed p. X6, as Garden in Sochi.
Barr 1948
Barr, Alfred H., Jr., ed. Painting and Sculpture in the Museum of Modern Art. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1948, ill. in b/w , p. 225, no. 285, as Garden in Sochi.
Hunter 1948b
Hunter, Sam. "Chiefly Abstract." New York Times, November 21, 1948, discussed p. X9, as Garden in Sochi.
Barr 1950
Barr, Alfred H., Jr. "Gorky, de Kooning, Pollock." Artnews 49, no. 4 (June–August 1950), discussed p. 60, as Garden in Sochi.
Ballard 1951
Ballard, Louis. "Art." Arts & Architecture (Los Angeles) 68 (May 1951), discussed p. 10, as "The Garden in Sochi".
de Kooning 1951
de Kooning, Elaine. "Gorky: Painter of his Own Legend." Artnews (New York) 49, no. 9 (January 1951), discussed p. 64.
Loftus 1952
Loftus, John. "Arshile Gorky: A Monograph." M.A. Thesis, Columbia University, New York, 1952, pl. XXI, ill. in b/w, as Garden in Sochi.
Seitz 1953
Seitz, William C. "Spirit, Time and 'Abstract Expressionism.'" Magazine of Art (Washington, D.C.) 46 (February 1953), ill. in b/w, p. 82; discussed p. 84, as Garden in Sochi.
Mooradian 1955
Mooradian, Karlen. "Arshile Gorky." Armenian Review (Watertown, MA) 8, no. 2 (Summer 1955), discussed p. 55, as Garden in Sochi.
Rodman 1955
Rodman, Selden. The Eye of Man: Form and Content in Western Painting. New York: Devin-Adair, 1955, ill. in b/w, p. 137, as Garden in Sochi.
Time 1956
"Art: The Wild Ones." Time (New York) 67, no. 8 (February 20, 1956), ill. in color, p. 72, as Garden in Sochi.
Schwabacher 1957
Schwabacher, Ethel. Arshile Gorky. New York: The Macmillan Company for the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1957. Monograph, fig. 27, ill. in b/w, p. 71, as Garden in Sochi.
Museum of Modern Art 1958
Painting and Sculpture in the Museum of Modern Art: A Catalog. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1958, discussed p. 27, as Garden in Sochi.
Rosenberg 1961
Rosenberg, Harold. "Arshile Gorky, His Art and His Influence." Portfolio & Artnews Annual (New York), no. 5 (1961), ill. in b/w, p. 105, as Garden in Sochi.
Adlow 1962
Adlow, Dorothy. "At the Museum of Modern Art." Christian Science Monitor (Boston), December 26, 1962, ill. in b/w, p. 4, as "Garden in Socki".
Vreeland 1962
Vreeland, Diana, ed. "People Are Talking About . . . Advance Notice." Vogue (New York) 140 (August 15, 1962), no. 9, ill. in b/w, p. 84, as Garden in Sochi.
Ashton 1962a
Ashton, Dore. The Unknown Shore: A View of Contemporary Art. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1962, ill. in b/w, p. 50, as Garden in Sochi.
Rosenberg 1962a
Rosenberg, Harold. Arshile Gorky: The Man, the Time, the Idea. New York: Horizon Press, 1962. Monograph, ill. in b/w, p. 71, as Garden in Sochi.
Ashton 1962b
Ashton, Dore. "Arshile Gorky peintre romantique." XXe siècle (Paris) 19 (June 1962), ill. in b/w, p. 77, as "Jardin à Sochi".
Rubin 1963
Rubin, William. "Arshile Gorky, Surrealism, and the New American Painting." Art International (Paris) 7, no. 2 (February 25, 1963), ill. in b/w, p. 30, as "Garden in Soichi".
Levy 1966
Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 81, ill. in b/w, p. 105, as Garden in Sochi.
Rose 1967
Rose, Barbara. American Art Since 1900: A Critical History. New York & Washington: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1967, fig. 6–13, ill. in b/w, p. 168, as Garden in Sochi.
Mooradian 1967a
Mooradian, Karlen. "Arshile Gorky: The Prompter." Harvard Art Review (Cambridge, MA) 2, no. 1 (Winter 1967), ill. in b/w, p. 36, as Garden in Sochi.
Rubin 1968
Rubin, William S. Dada and Surrealist Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1968, fig. 403, ill. in b/w, p. 389, as "Garden in Sochi II".
Sandler 1970
Sandler, Irving H. The Triumph of American Painting: A History of Abstract Expressionism. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970, fig. 3–11, ill. in b/w, p. 53, as "Garden in Sochi I".
LACMA 1971
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New York School: the First Generation, Paintings of the 1940s and 1950s. Forward by Maurice Tuchman. Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1971 (1965b Los Angeles), fig. 25, ill. in b/w, p. 61, as Garden in Sochi.
Hunter 1973
Hunter, Sam. American Art of the Twentieth Century. With sections on architecture by John Jacobus. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1972, 1973, pl. 369, ill. in b/w, p. 206, as Garden in Sochi.
Barr 1977
Barr, Alfred H., Jr., ed. Painting and Sculpture in the Museum of Modern Art, 1929–1967. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1977, ill. in b/w, p. 309, as Garden in Sochi.
Rathbone 1978
Rathbone, Eliza E. "Arshile Gorky: The Plow and the Song." In American Art at Mid-Century: The Subjects of the Artist. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1978. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 7, ill. in b/w, p. 66, as Garden in Sochi.
Rand 1980
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. London and Montclair, N.J.: George Prior and Allanheld & Schram, 1980, 1981. Monograph, fig. 5–1, ill. in b/w, p. 73, as Garden in Sochi.
Jordan 1981
Jordan, Jim M. "Gorky at the Guggenheim." Art Journal (New York) 41, no. 3 (Fall 1981), discussed pp. 263–64, as Garden in Sochi.
Karp 1982
Karp, Diane. "Arshile Gorky: The Language of Art." Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1982, fig. 79, ill. in b/w, p. 247, as Garden in Sochi.
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. 72–73, 80–81, 88, as Garden in Sochi.
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. 248, ill. in b/w, pp. 395–97, as Garden in Sochi.
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. 64, ill. in color, as Garden in Sochi.
Rand 1986
Rand, Harry. "Gorky In Virginia." Arts in Virginia 26, no. 1 (1986), fig. 6, ill. in b/w, pp. 6–7, as Garden in Sochi.
Allen 1990
Allen, William. "Arshile Gorky." Art Monthly (London), no. 134 (March 1990), discussed, p. 19, as Garden in Sochi.
Rand 1991
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, fig. 5–1, ill. in b/w, p. 80, as Garden in Sochi.
Ashton 1995
Ashton, Dore. "A Straggler's View of Gorky." In Arshile Gorky: The Breakthrough Years, Karen Lee Spaulding, ed. Fort Worth, Texas: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, in association with Rizzoli, New York, 1995. Exhibition catalogue, ill. in b/w, p. 50, as Garden in Sochi.
Bevan 1995
Bevan, Roger. "Autumnal Gorky." The Art Newspaper (London) 6 (May 1995), discussed p. 13, as Garden in Sochi.
Kimmelman 1995
Kimmelman, Michael. "A Restless Borrower, and His Own Man." New York Times, May 21 1995, discussed, as Garden in Sochi.
Sawin 1995
Sawin, Martica. Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School. Cambridge, MA and London: The MIT Press, 1995, ill. in b/w, p. 167, as Garden in Sochi.
Weil 1995
Weil, Rex. "Arshile Gorky." Artnews (New York) 94 (September 1995), ill. in b/w, p. 147, as Garden in Sochi.
Balakian 1996
Balakian, Peter. "Arshile Gorky and the Armenian Genocide." Art in America (New York) 84 (February 1996), discussed p. 59, as Garden in Sochi.
Matossian 1998b
Matossian, Nouritza. Black Angel: The Life of Arshile Gorky. London: Chatto & Windus, 1998, color pl. 5, ill., as Garden in Sochi.
Fundació la Caixa 1999
Made in USA 1940–1970: De l'Expressionisme Abstracte al Pop. Barcelona: Centre Cultural de la Fundacio "la Caixa", 1999. Exhibition catalogue (1999 Barcelona), ill. in color, p. 46, as "Garden in Sochi (Third Version) / Jardí a Sochi (tercera seqüència) / Jardín en Sochi (tercera secuencia)".
Spender 1999
Spender, Matthew. From a High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1999, ill. in b/w, p. 232, as Garden in Sochi.
Herrera 2003
Herrera, Hayden. Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, fig. 149, ill. in color, as Garden in Sochi.
Johnson 2004
Johnson, Patricia C. "Exhibit Reveals Gorky's Genius: Menil Collection Shows 140 of Artist's Works." Houston Chronicle, March 6, 2004, discussed p. 9D, as Garden in Sochi.
Rosand 2004
Rosand, David. The Invention of Painting in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004, fig. 72, ill. in b/w, p. 142, as Garden in Sochi.
Beredjiklian 2007
Beredjiklian, Alexandre. Arshile Gorky: sept thèmes majeurs. Suresnes, France: Alphamédian & Johanet; Lisbon: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 2007. Monograph, discussed pp. 25, 32, as "Jardin à Sotchi".
Kleeblatt 2008
Kleeblatt, Norman L. "Greenberg, Rosenberg, and Postwar American Art." In Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940–1976, Norman L. Kleeblatt, ed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2008. Exhibition catalogue, ill. in color, p. 142, as Garden in Sochi.
Cooksey 2009
Cooksey, Chelsea L. "Arshile Gorky: The Abstraction of Symbol, Figure, and Form." M.A. Thesis, Purchase College, State University of New York, 2009, fig. 2, ill. in color, p. 52, as Garden in Sochi.
Kolbe 2009
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 Garden in Sochi.
Mattison 2009
Matttison, Robert S. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafica, 2009. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 63, as Garden in Sochi.
Warner 2009
Warner, Emily. "Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective." The Brooklyn Rail (NY) (December 2009–January 2010), ill. in color, as Garden in Sochi.
Theriault 2009a
Theriault, Kim S. Rethinking Arshile Gorky. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009. Monograph, pl. 20, ill. in color, as Garden in Sochi.
Alberro 2010
Alberro, Alexander. "The Apprenticeship of Arshile Gorky: On Arshile Gorky at the Philadelphia Museum of Art." Texte zur Kunst (Cologne) 77 (March 2010), discussed pp. 148, 212, as Garden in Sochi.
Gale 2010
Gale, Matthew. Arshile Gorky: Enigma and Nostalgia. London: Tate Publishing, 2010. Exhibition catalogue (2009–10 Philadelphia), no. 24, ill. in color, p. 53, as Garden in Sochi.
Murachanian 2010
Murachanian, Jean. "The Forging of an Artistic Identity: A Gorky Retrospective." Asbarez Newspaper (Los Angeles), July 2, 2010, ill. in color, as "Garden of Sochi".
Spender 2010
Spender, Matthew. Una storia armena Vita di Arshile Gorky. Florence: Barbès Editore, 2010, ill. in b/w, p. 258; p. 427, as Garden in Sochi.
Craft 2012
Craft, Catherine. An Audience of Artists: Dada, Neo-Dada, and the Emergence of Abstract Expressionism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012, fig. 12, ill. in b/w, p. 82, as Garden in Sochi.
Devaney 2017
Devaney, Edith. "Repossessing Nature." In Ardent Nature: Arshile Gorky Landscapes, 1943–47. Zurich: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2017. Exhibition catalogue, ill. in color, p. 26, as Garden in Sochi.
Field 2021
Field, Parker. "Beyond The Limit." In Arshile Gorky: Beyond The Limit, edited by Jennifer Magee. Zurich: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2021. Exhibition catalogue, discussed p. 13, as Garden in Sochi.
Notes

Commentary

Around June 1942, the Museum of Modern Art exchanged Painting (P212) with Gorky for Garden in Sochi (P248). According to Agnes "Mougouch" Gorky (1921–2013), "there was a moment during this transaction when [Alfred H.] Barr took out a tape measure to compare the two works after which the green Sochi being slightly larger [than P212], Gorky received some extra money to make up the difference."1

Shortly after the exchange, at the request of Dorothy C. Miller (1904–2003), a curator at the Museum of Modern Art, Gorky shared a brief text about the painting that centers on his childhood village, Khorkom (also spelled Khorgom; now Dilkaya, Turkey): "[A]bout 194 feet away from our house on the road to the spring my father had a little garden with a few apple trees which had retired from giving fruit. There was a ground constantly in shade where grew incalculable amounts of wild carrots, and porcupines had made their nests. There was a blue rock half buried in the black earth with a few patches of moss placed here and there like fallen clouds. . . . This garden was identified as the Garden of Wish Fulfillment. . . ."2

According to Mougouch, the painting's central, boot-shaped form is based on the goatskin and sheepskin butter churns used by Kurdish mountain tribes and familiar to Gorky from his childhood.3

She also reported that the painting was completed in one night, around October 1941, soon after she and Gorky had returned to New York from their honeymoon.4 "When we got back from San Francisco [on October 1, 1941] there was a letter from [Lloyd] Goodrich waiting for him [Gorky], saying the Whitney wanted a work of his for the Biennale. Gorky read this and said 'I will call him the day after tomorrow.' Whereupon he worked that whole night and most of the next day, making the dark green Garden in Sochi."5 Jim M. Jordan notes that it is more likely that Gorky gave the painting its final surface in one night.6 When the painting was exhibited in the Whitney Museum of American Art's Annual Exhibition of Paintings by Artists Under Forty in 1941 (November 12–December 30), the paint was reportedly still wet.7

The first known documentation of the title, Garden in Sochi, appears in Gorky's written statement for the Museum of Modern Art (quoted above), which is dated June 26, 1942. Mougouch explained that the title references the Black Sea port of Sochi, which was in the news at the time it was selected.8 

1. Agnes Gorky Fielding, interview by Matthew Spender, September 24–October 6, 1991, transcript, 9, Matthew Spender Papers, AGF Archives. 

2. "Arshile Gorky: Text for the Museum of Modern Art Describing the Garden in Sochi Series," June 26, 1942, Artist File: Arshile Gorky, The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York. Reprinted in Matthew Spender, ed., Arshile Gorky: The Plow and the Song: A Life in Letters and Documents (Zurich: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2018), 255; a copy of the original typescript is in the AGF Archives.

3. Agnes Gorky Fielding, as quoted in 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), 438.

4. Agnes Gorky Fielding, as quoted in ibid, 397.

5. Agnes Gorky Fielding, interview by Matthew Spender, October 31 and November 25, 1994, transcript, Matthew Spender Papers, AGF Archives. 

6. Agnes Gorky Fielding, as quoted in Jordan, "Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings," 397.

7. Spender, From a High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 231.

8. Agnes Gorky Fielding later remembered Gorky selecting the title, Garden in Sochi, the same night the painting was reportedly created; however, given the work was exhibited as Painting in the Whitney Museum's Annual Exhibition of November–December 1941, it is Gorky's June 1942 statement for The MoMA that offers the first known documentation of the title, Garden in Sochi. "Mougouch Gorky: How Breton and Gorky Worked on Titles," December 22–28, 1993, in Spender, ed., The Plow and the Song, 336; see also: Spender, From a High Place, 185–86.

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