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Catalogue Entry
P316
(The Plow and the Song)
1947
Oil on canvas
50 1/2 x 62 5/8 in. (128.3 x 159.1 cm)
Front, lower right: A. Gorky / 47 / [paraph]
Reverse not seen
Reverse not seen
Provenance
The artist
Julien Levy Gallery, New York (1947)
Julien Levy, Bridgewater, Connecticut (1949)
[Samuel Kootz Gallery, New York (March 21, 1950)]
Julien Levy, Bridgewater, Connecticut (April 26, 1950)
[Samuel Kootz Gallery, New York (January 9, 1951)]
[Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (February 27, 1952)]
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio (April 1952)
Exhibitions
1950a New York
Kootz Gallery, New York, Selected Paintings by the Late Arshile Gorky, March 28–April 24, 1950. (Exhibition brochure: Gottlieb 1950), as "The Plow and the Song".1954b New York
M. Knoedler & Co. Inc, New York, Paintings and Drawings from Five Centuries: Collection Allen Memorial Art Museum, February 3–21, 1954, no. 77, ill. in b/w, as "The Plough and the Song".1957 Kansas City
William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, Some Points of View in Modern Painting, February 10–March 10, 1957, no. 22, as "The Plow and the Song".1958 Cleveland
Cleveland Museum of Art, Some Contemporary Works of Art, November 11–December 31, 1958, no. 21, ill. in b/w, as "The Plough and the Song".1959–60 USIA
City Art Museum, Saint Louis, for the United States Information Agency (organizer), 25 Anni di Pittura Americana, 1933–1958, 1959–60, ill. in b/w, p. 15, as "The Plough and the Song," [Darmstadt: no. 22, as "The Plough and the Song"]. Traveled to: Palazzo Reale, Naples, Italy, October 31–November 25, 1959; Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, December 12, 1959–January 10, 1960; Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, January 23–February 22, 1960; Permanente Gallery, Milan, March 5–31, 1960; Amerika Haus, Berlin, April 15–May 15, 1960; Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany, June 3–26, 1960; Göteborg Art Museum, Sweden, July 15–August 7, 1960; City Art Gallery, York, United Kingdom, August 15–September 15, 1960.1962 Venice
XXXI Biennale di Venezia: Internazionale d'Arte, U.S. Pavillion, Venice, Italy, Arshile Gorky, June 16–October 7, 1962, no. 25, p. 114, as "L'aratro e la canzone".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. 112, ill. in b/w, p. 46; p. 56, as "The Plough and the Song". Traveled to: Washington Gallery of Modern Art, D.C., March 12–April 14, 1963.1964 Albuquerque
University of New Mexico Art Gallery, Albuquerque, Art Since 1889: An Exhibition Presented in Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of The University of New Mexico: 1889/1964, October 20–November 15, 1964, no. 39, p. 10, as "The Plough and the Song".1965 AC–Brussels and Rotterdam
Arts Council of Great Britain, London (organizer), Arshile Gorky, Paintings and Drawings / Arshile Gorky: Schilderijen en Tekeningen, 1965, no. 127, ill. in b/w, as "De ploeg en het lied / The plough and the song". 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).1965 AC–London
Arts Council of Great Britain, London (organizer), Tate Gallery, Arshile Gorky: Paintings and Drawings, April 2–May 2, 1965, no. 92, ill. in b/w, as "The Plough and the Song".1966 Minneapolis
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Treasures from the Allen Memorial Art Museum, July 21–September 11, 1966.1967 Trenton
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, Focus on Light, May 20–September 10, 1967, no. 32, ill. in b/w, as "The Plough and the Song".1968 Venice
XXXIV Biennale di Venezia: Internazionale d'Arte, Central Pavillion, Venice, Italy, Linee della ricerca contemporanea, July 22–October 20, 1968, no. 42, ill. in b/w, plate 67; p. 56, as "L'aratro e la canzone".1969–70a New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940–1970, October 18, 1969–February 8, 1970. (Exhibition catalogue: Geldzahler 1969), no. 94, as "The Plough and the Song".1976d New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Natural Paradise: Painting in America 1800–1950, October 1–November 30, 1976, ill. in b/w, p. 41, as "The Plough and the Song".1978–79 Washington, D.C.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., American Art at Mid-Century: The Subjects of the Artist, June 1, 1978–January 14, 1979, as "The Plow and the Song".1979 Cleveland
Cleveland Museum of Art, The Spirit of Surrealism, October 3–November 25, 1979, no. 86, ill. in b/w, p. 145, as "The Plough and the Song".1981–82 New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 204, ill. in b/w, p. 226, as "The Plough and the Song". Traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, September 12–November 6, 1981; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 3, 1981–February 28, 1982.1998 Cleveland
Cleveland Museum of Art, [Short-term loan], June–August 1998.2009–10 Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, October 15, 2009–January 10, 2010. (Exhibition catalogue: Taylor 2009a), pl. 149, ill. in color, p. 309; p. 392, as "The Plow and the Song". 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).2017 New York
Hauser & Wirth, New York, Ardent Nature: Arshile Gorky Landscapes, 1943–47, November 2–December 23, 2017. (Exhibition catalogue: Spender and Devaney 2017), ill. in color (detail), p. 7; ill. in color, pp. 110–11; p. 139, as "The Plough and the Song".Literature
Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 1952
"Catalogue of Recent Additions." Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin (Oberlin, OH) 9, no. 3 (Spring 1952), discussed, p. 117, as "The Plough and the Song".Seitz 1954
Seitz, William C. "Arshile Gorky's The Plough and the Song." Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin (Oberlin, OH) 12 (Fall 1954), fig. 1, ill. in b/w, p. 4, as "The Plough and the Song".Arti Visive 1957
"Special issue on Gorky in Italian and English with text by Toti Scialoja and excerpts from Schwabacher 1957." Arti Visive 6–7 (Summer 1957), no. 12, ill. in b/w, as "The Plough and the Song".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. 67, ill. in b/w, p. 143, as "The Plow and the Song".Reiff 1961
Reiff, Robert F. "A Stylistic Analysis of Arshile Gorky's Art from 1943–1948." Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, New York, 1961, fig. 74, ill. in b/w, p. 352, as "The Plow and the Song".Apollonio 1962
Apollonio, Umbro. "Una retrospettiva alla Biennale: Gorky." Le Arti (Milan), no. 5 (May 1962), ill. in color, p. 32, as "The Plough and the Song".Boatto 1962
Boatto, Alberto. "L'itinerario di Gorky." Arte Oggi (Rome) 14 (June–December 1962), discussed, p. 15, as "L'aratro e la canzone".Choay 1962
Choay, Françoise. "Venise 1962." Art International (Paris) 6 (October 25 1962), ill. in b/w, p. 41, as "L'aratro e la canzone".Geist 1962
Geist, Sidney. "Gorky/Rosenberg: Two Reviews." Anita Ventura and Sidney Geist, eds. Review of Arshile Gorky: The Man, the Time, the Idea, by Harold Rosenberg. Scrap (New York) 8 (June 14, 1962), ill. in b/w, p. 2, as "The Plow and the Song".Ashton 1963b
Ashton, Dore. "New York." Das Kunstwerk (Stuttgart, Germany) 16, no. 10 (April 1963), discussed, p. 31, as "The Plough and the Song".Hoyland 1965
Hoyland, Francis. "The composer." The Listener (London) (April 15, 1965), discussed, p. 568, as "The Plough and the Song".Levy 1966
Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 184, ill. in color, p. 208, as "The Plow and the Song".Stechow 1967
Stechow, Wolfgang, ed. Catalogue of European and American Paintings and Sculpture in the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College. Oberlin, Ohio: Allen Memorial Art Museum, 1967, p. 66; fig. 206, ill. in b/w, p. 325, as "The Plough and the Song".Rose 1968
Rose, Barbara, ed. Readings in American Art Since 1900: A Documentary Survey. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1968, ill. in b/w, as "The Plough and the Song".Geldzahler 1969
Geldzahler, Henry. New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940–1970. New York: E.P. Dutton, in association with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969. Exhibition catalogue (1969–70a New York), no. 94, ill. in b/w, p. 160; p. 46, as "The Plough and the Song".Kramer 1969a
Kramer, Hilton. "30 Years of the New York School." New York Times Magazine (October 12, 1969), ill. in b/w, p. 30, as "The Plough and the Song".Johnson 1976
Johnson, Ellen H. "American Art of the Twentieth Century." Apollo (London) 103 (February 1976), pl. VIII, ill. in color, p. 129, as "The Plough and the Song".Herrera 1976b
Herrera, Hayden. "The Sculptures of Arshile Gorky." Arts Magazine (New York) 50, no. 7 (March 1976), discussed p. 89, as "The Plow and the Song".Carmean 1978
Carmean, E.A., Jr. "Introduction." In American Art at Mid-Century: The Subjects of the Artist. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1978. Exhibition catalogue, pl. 6, ill. in color, p. 23, as "The Plow and the Song".National Gallery of Art 1978
East Building, National Gallery of Art: A Profile. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1978, ill. in color, p. 64, as "The Plow and the Song".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, checklist no. 5, p. 60; fig. 47, ill. in b/w, p. 85, as "The Plow and the Song".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. 12–23, ill. in b/w, p. 201, as "The Plow and the Song".Sue et al 1981
Sue, David, and Derald Wing Sue, and Stanley Sue. Understanding Abnormal Behavior. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981, ill. in b/w, pp. 330–31, as "Plough and the Song II".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. 90, as "The Plough and the Song".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. 316, ill. in b/w (repr. 90 degrees counterclockwise), pp. 483–85, as "The Plough and the Song".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. 87, ill. in color, as "The Plow and the Song".Rand 1991
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, fig. 12–23, ill. in b/w, p. 224, as "The Plow and the Song".Matossian 1998b
Matossian, Nouritza. Black Angel: The Life of Arshile Gorky. London: Chatto & Windus, 1998, color pl. 15, ill., as "The Plough and the Song".Beredjiklian 2007
Beredjiklian, Alexandre. Arshile Gorky: sept thèmes majeurs. Suresnes, France: Alphamédian & Johanet; Lisbon: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 2007. Monograph, discussed, p. 46, as "La charrue et le chant".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. 16, ill. in color, p. 60, as "The Plow and the Song".Mattison 2009
Matttison, Robert S. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafica, 2009. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 99, as "The Plow and the Song".Gale 2010
Gale, Matthew. Arshile Gorky: Enigma and Nostalgia. London: Tate Publishing, 2010. Exhibition catalogue (2009–10 Philadelphia), no. 44, ill. in color, p. 83, as "The Plow and the Song".Weston 2010
Weston, Neville. "Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective." Craft Arts International (Neutral Bay Junction, N.S.W.) 79 (2010), ill. in color, p. 86, as "The Plow and the Song".Sandler 2013
Sandler, Irving H. "Arshile Gorky, 'An Artist of the Earth.'" The Brooklyn Rail (NY) (July–August 2013), ill. in color, p. 33, as "The Plow and the Song".Cooper 2014
Cooper, Harry. "Pollock's Lines: A Map of Misreading." In Make It New: Abstract Painting from the National Gallery of Art, 1950–1975. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 9, ill. in color, p. 28, as "The Plough and the Song".Spender 2018a
Spender, Matthew, ed. Arshile Gorky: The Plow and the Song: A Life in Letters and Documents. Zurich: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2018, ill. in color, p. 6, as "The Plough and the Song".Notes
Commentary
The painting is one in a series of three titled The Plow and the Song (P315, P316, and P317), only one of which—P317—is known to have been shown during Gorky's lifetime with this appellation.
The primary elements of the series' title are embedded in what was to be Gorky's last interview in February 1948. Reflecting on his childhood and the landscape of Sherman, Connecticut, where he had moved with his family in December 1947, Gorky remarked: "You don't recognize [beauty] when you are looking for it, and you won't find it by looking in a magazine. It's right here in the moon, the stars, the horizon, the snow formations, the first patch of brown earth under the poplar. . . . But what I miss are the songs in the fields. . . . And there are no more plows. I love a plow more than anything else on a farm."1
1. Talcott B. Clapp, "A Painter in a Glass House," Sunday Republican Magazine (February 29, 1948): 3.
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