Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné

Catalogue Entry

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P284

(From a High Place)

1944

Oil on canvas

22 x 28 in. (55.9 x 71.1 cm)

Front, in pencil, upper left: A. Gorky / 44
Reverse, stretcher bar: [signed and inscribed "NYC"]

Private collection

Provenance

The artist

Julien Levy Gallery, New York (1945)

Possibly 67 Gallery, New York (February 1, 1945)

Julien Levy Gallery, New York (by October 1945)

Julien Levy, Bridgewater, Connecticut (1949)

[Samuel Kootz Gallery, New York (March 21, 1950)]

Estate of Arshile Gorky (April 26, 1950)

[Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (by December 1957)]

Betty and Donald M. Weisberger, New York (January 1, 1959) . . .

[Possibly Lennon, Weinberg Inc., New York] . . .

Private collection, Europe (after 1982)

[Christie's, New York, Contemporary Art, November 6, 1985, lot 37; bought in] . . .

[Gagosian Gallery, New York (March 1994)]

Thomas W. Weisel, San Francisco (March 10, 1994)

[Sotheby's, New York, A Private American Collection, November 12, 2002, lot 15; bought in]

Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York (2007)

Private collection (2010)

Exhibitions

1945b New York possibly

67 Gallery, New York, A Problem for Critics, May 14–July 7, 1945.

1950a New York

Kootz Gallery, New York, Selected Paintings by the Late Arshile Gorky, March 28–April 24, 1950. (Exhibition brochure: Gottlieb 1950), as "From a High Place".

1957f New York

Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 33 Paintings by Arshile Gorky, December 2–28, 1957. (Exhibition catalogue: Sidney Janis Gallery 1957), no. 18, ill. in b/w, as "From a High Place".

Literature

Coates 1957

Coates, Robert M. "The Art Galleries." The New Yorker 33 (December 14, 1957), discussed, p. 142, as "From a High Place".

Sidney Janis Gallery 1959

Late Drawings by Gorky. New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1959. Exhibition catalogue (1959b New York), no. 36, ill. in b/w (in situ), as "From a High Place" in "Gallery View, Gorky Exhibition, December 1957".

Levy 1966

Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 92, ill. in b/w, p. 116, as "From a High Place".

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, p. 85, as "From a High Place".

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. 284, ill. in b/w, pp. 438–39, as "From a High Place".

Reif 1985a

Reif, Rita. "Auctions." New York Times, November 1, 1985, discussed, as "From a High Place".

Reif 1985b

Reif, Rita. "Some Major Modern Art Left Unsold at Auction." New York Times, November 30, 1985, discussed, p. 13, as "From a High Place".

Baker 2002

Baker, Kenneth. "S.F. art collector settles for $33 million at auction." San Francisco Chronicle, November 13, 2002, discussed, p. A19, as From a High Place.

Herrera 2003

Herrera, Hayden. Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, fig. 132, ill. in b/w, as "From a High Place".

Notes

The inscription on the stretcher bar is known from the records of Sotheby's, New York.

Commentary

Although the painting's title, From a High Place, 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 If original to the artist, the title was likely decided upon by Gorky and André Breton (1896–1966) through a collaborative process of free association that the two artists jointly devised in the months preceding Gorky's debut solo show at the Julien Levy Gallery in March 1945 (see commentary for P287).²

In the ledgers for Julien Levy's gallery, Gorky's last lifetime dealer, a work referred to as "From a Hill Top" was sold to Howard Putzel (1898–1945) of 67 Gallery in New York. It is, however, unconfirmed if this transaction and the associated title refer to this painting.³ The significance of the title From a High Place has often been interpreted as a reference to a landscape. In his biography of Gorky, the title of which originates from this painting, Matthew Spender writes, "the title From a High Place indicates detachment and retreat—a retreat perhaps to the mountains of Armenia, which are so immensely high."⁴

1. 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), 438–39.

2. Julien Levy Gallery, New York, Arshile Gorky, March 6–31, 1945.

3. Putzel purchased "From a Hill Top" from Julien Levy Gallery for $75, which is more consistent with Levy's prices for Gorky's drawings than with his prices for the artist's paintings. With that being said, there is no known drawing in the current installment of the catalogue raisonné that has been identified as the work purchased by Putzel. Julien Levy Gallery Records, Ledger, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library and Archives.

4. Matthew Spender, From a High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 324.

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