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P348
(Terra Cotta)
1947
Oil on canvas
44 1/4 x 56 in. (112.4 x 142.2 cm)
Front, upper right: A. Gorky / 47 / [paraph]
Reverse not seen
Reverse not seen
Provenance
Exhibitions
School of Fine Arts, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Twentieth Annual Festival of Fine Arts: Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings, June 18–August 13, 1958, no. 11, as "Terra Cotta".
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 9 American Painters: Albers, Baziotes, Gorky, Guston, Kline, de Kooning, Motherwell, Pollock, Rothko, April 4–23, 1960, no. 9, ill. in b/w, as "Terra-Cotta".
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, The Sidney Janis Painters, April 8–May 7, 1961, no. 6, as "Terra-Cotta".
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, Paintings by Arshile Gorky from 1929 to 1948, February 5–March 3, 1962. (Exhibition catalogue: Sidney Janis Gallery 1962), no. 25, ill. in b/w, as "Terra Cotta".
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, December 19, 1962–February 12, 1963. (Exhibition catalogue: Seitz 1962), no. 115, p. 56, as "Terra Cotta". Traveled to: Washington Gallery of Modern Art, D.C., March 12–April 14, 1963.
Arts Council of Great Britain, London (organizer), Tate Gallery, Arshile Gorky: Paintings and Drawings, April 2–May 2, 1965, no. 96, ill. in b/w, as "Terra Cotta".
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, New York School: the First Generation, Paintings of the 1940s and 1950s, June 16–August 1, 1965, no. 27, ill. in color, p. 88, as "Terra Cotta".
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 229, ill. in color, p. 241, as "Terra Cotta". Traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, September 12–November 6, 1981; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 3, 1981–February 28, 1982.
Literature
O'Hara, Frank. "Art Chronicle." Kulchur (New York) 2, no. 6 (Summer 1962), discussed p. 56, as "Terra Cotta".
Tillim, Sydney. "Arshile Gorky." Arts Magazine (New York) 36, no. 7 (April 1962), discussed, p. 50, as "Terra Cotta".
Arshile Gorky: Schilderijen en Tekeningen. Rotterdam: Museum Boymans van Beuingen, 1965. Exhibition catalogue (1965 AC–Brussels and Rotterdam), ill. in b/w, as "Terracotta".
Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 202, ill. in b/w, p. 226, as "Terra Cotta".
Jordan, Jim M. Gorky: Drawings. New York: M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., 1969. Exhibition catalogue (1969e New York), fig. 8, ill. in b/w, p. 15, as "Terra Cotta".
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New York School: the First Generation, Paintings of the 1940s and 1950s. Foreword by Maurice Tuchman. Rev. ed. Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society Ltd., 1971, fig. 24, ill. in color, p. 59, as "Terra Cotta".
Rand, Harry. "Arshile Gorky Iconography." In Arshile Gorky: Drawings to Paintings. Austin: University of Texas at Austin, 1975. Exhibition catalogue, discussed, p. 65, as "Terra Cotta".
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. 12–15, ill. in b/w, p. 194, as "Terra Cotta".
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. 91, as "Terra Cotta".
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. 348, ill. in b/w, pp. 527–28, as "Terra Cotta".
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, pl. XIII, ill. in color, n.p.; fig. 12–15, ill. in b/w, p. 217, as "Terra Cotta".
Shea, Patricia, ed. Picasso to Pop: The Richard Weisman Collection. New York and Los Angeles: Atelier Press, 2002, fig. 36, ill. in color, p. 51, as "Terra Cotta".
Notes
Commentary
The painting's overall composition is closely related to two other canvases by the artist, Pastoral (P347) and Summer Snow (P349), and is referenced in eight known drawings (see related work).
Although Terra Cotta 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.1
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), 527–28.
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