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P312
(From a High Place II)
1946
Oil on canvas
17 x 24 in. (43.2 x 61 cm)
Front not inscribed
Reverse not seen
Reverse not seen
Private collection
Provenance
Exhibitions
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 33 Paintings by Arshile Gorky, December 2–28, 1957. (Exhibition catalogue: Sidney Janis Gallery 1957), no. 24, ill. in b/w, as "From a High Place II".
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, December 19, 1962–February 12, 1963. (Exhibition catalogue: Seitz 1962), no. 83, p. 55, as "From a High Place II". 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. 106, as "Van een hoge plek af / From a high place". 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. 71, as "From a High Place".
Xavier Fourcade Inc, New York, Arshile Gorky: Important Paintings and Drawings, April 3–28, 1979, ill. in color, as "From a High Place".
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 173, ill. in b/w, p. 199, as "From a High Place". Traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, September 12–November 6, 1981; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 3, 1981–February 28, 1982.
Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, October 17–December 23, 1989, no. 42, ill. in color, p. 117, as "From a High Place II". Traveled to: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, January 19–March 25, 1990.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, October 15, 2009–January 10, 2010. (Exhibition catalogue: Taylor 2009a), pl. 175, ill. in color, p. 338; p. 391, as "From a High Place II". 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).
Ca'Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice, Italy, Arshile Gorky: 1904–1948, May 8–September 22, 2019, ill. in color, p. 122, as "From a High Place II".
Literature
Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 144, ill. in b/w, p. 168, as "From a High Place II".
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. 7–6, ill. in b/w, p. 110, as "From a High Place II".
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. 88, as "From a High Place II".
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. 312, ill. in b/w, pp. 478–79, as "From a High Place II".
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, fig. 7–6, ill. in b/w, p. 128, as "From a High Place II".
Herrera, Hayden. Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, fig. 133, ill. in b/w, as "From a High Place II".
Matttison, Robert S. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafica, 2009. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 93, as "From a High Place II".
Notes
Front, lower right [by Agnes Gorky Phillips]: A. Gorky
Commentary
The painting's overall composition is related to the series "From a High Place" (see related work), in association with which its various titles have historically derived. Although From a High Place II is identified as a lifetime title 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 (for more information on its significance, see commentary for P284).1 The earliest known appearance of the title is in Sidney Janis Gallery's exhibition 33 Paintings by Arshile Gorky, which opened in New York in December 1957.2
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), 478.
2. Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 33 Paintings by Arshile Gorky, December 2–28, 1957. Exhibition catalogue.
Related Work
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