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Catalogue Entry
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Provenance
Estate of Arshile Gorky (1948)
[Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (by January 1957)]
[M. Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York (by 1967)]
Estate of Arshile Gorky (October 5, 1972)
Private collection (1975)
[Xavier Fourcade Inc., New York (July 26, 1978)]
Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York (September 20, 1978)
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Lugano, Switzerland (September 20, 1978)
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (1993)
Exhibitions
1951a New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Arshile Gorky Memorial Exhibition, January 5–February 18, 1951, no. 55, p. 47, as "Last Painting" (exhibited in New York only). 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. 23, as "Last Painting".1962b New York
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. 28, ill. in b/w, as "Last Painting".1962 Venice
XXXI Biennale di Venezia: Internazionale d'Arte, U.S. Pavilion, Venice, Italy, Arshile Gorky, June 16–October 7, 1962, no. 31, p. 114, as "Ultimo dipinto".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. 121, ill. in b/w, p. 50; p. 56, as "Last Painting". Traveled to: Washington Gallery of Modern Art, D.C., March 12–April 14, 1963.1965 AC–Brussels and Rotterdam
Arts Council of Great Britain, London (organizer), Arshile Gorky, Paintings and Drawings / Arshile Gorky: Schilderijen en Tekeningen, 1965, no. 150, as "Laatste schilderij / Last painting". 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. 105, as "Last Painting".1966–67 IC–MoMA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, International Council (organizer), Two Decades of American Painting, 1966–67, as "Last Painting," [Japan: unnumbered checklist, p. 66]. Traveled to: National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, October 15–November 27, 1966; National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, December 10, 1966–January 22, 1967; Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, March 28–April 15, 1967; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, June 6–July 9, 1967; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, July 17–August 13, 1967.1967–68 Turin
Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Turin, Italy, Le Muse Inquietanti: Maestri del Surrealismo, November 1967–January 1968, no. 264, as "Ultimo dipinto".1969c New York
M. Knoedler & Co. Inc, New York, Gorky, de Kooning, Newman, June 26–September 20, 1969, as "Last Painting".1978e New York
Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York, 20th Century American Masters, 1978.1979b New York
Xavier Fourcade Inc, New York, Arshile Gorky: Important Paintings and Drawings, April 3–28, 1979, ill. in color, as "Last Painting," dated 1947.1981 Roslyn Harbor
Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York, The Abstract Expressionists and their Precursors, January 17–March 22, 1981, no. 3, ill. in color, as "Last Painting".1981–82 New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 249, ill. in b/w, p. 253, as "Last Painting". Traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, September 12–November 6, 1981; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 3, 1981–February 28, 1982.1982–84 International Exhibitions Foundation
International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, D.C. (organizer), 20th Century Masters: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, 1982–84, no. 60, ill. in color, p. 69, as "The Black Monk". Traveled to: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., May 30–September 8, 1982; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, October 1–November 28, 1982; Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, December 17, 1982–February 20, 1983; Seattle Art Museum, March 15–May 15, 1983; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, June 2–July 31, 1983; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, August 30–November 27, 1983; Phoenix Art Museum, January 6–February 26, 1984.1986 Cologne
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Europa/Amerika: Die Geschichte einer künstlerischen Faszination seit 1940, September 6–November 30, 1986, no. 56, ill. in color, p. 56, as "The Black Monk / Last Painting".1988–89 Berlin
Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Stationen der Moderne: Die bedeutenden Kunstausstellungen des 20. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland, September 25, 1988–January 8, 1989, no. 16/21, p. 442; ill. in color, p. 443, as "Last Painting".1989–90 Madrid
Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, October 17–December 23, 1989, no. 50, ill. in color, p. 59, as "Last Painting/The Black Monk". Traveled to: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, January 19–March 25, 1990.1995 Bochum
Museum Bochum, Germany, Armenien: Wiederentdeckung einer alten Kulturlandschaft, January 14–April 17, 1995, no. 328, ill. in color, p. 399, as "Letztes Gemälde (Der schwarze Mönch)" (not exhibited).1999 Barcelona
Centre Cultural de la Fundacio "la Caixa," Barcelona, Made in USA 1940–1970: De l'Expressionisme Abstracte al Pop, January 28–March 28, 1999. (Exhibition catalogue: Fundació la Caixa 1999), ill. in color, p. 49, as "Last Painting (The Black Monk) / Última pintura (el monjo negre) / Última pintura (el monje negro)".1999 Frankfurt
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Between Art and Life: Vom Abstrakten Expressionismus zur Pop Art, April 30–July 10, 1999, ill. in color, p. 55, as "Last Painting (The Black Monk)".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 (repr. in reverse), p. 311, as "The Black Monk / El monje negro".2007–08 Barcelona
Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Bajo la bomba: El jazz de la guerra de imágenes transatlántica, 1946–1956, October 4, 2007–January 7, 2008, ill. in color, pp. 414–15; p. 746, as "Last Painting (Black Monk)".2008 Basel
Foundation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, Action Painting, January 27–May 12, 2008, no. 19, ill. in color, p. 61, as "Last Painting (The Black Monk)".2009–10 Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, October 15, 2009–January 10, 2010. (Exhibition catalogue: Taylor 2009a), pl. 186, ill. in color, p. 349; p. 392, as "Last Painting". 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).2019 Venice
Ca'Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice, Italy, Arshile Gorky: 1904–1948, May 8–September 22, 2019, ill. in color, p. 143, as "Last Painting".2022 Lisbon
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro de Arte Moderna José Azeredo Perdigão, Lisbon, to go to. Jorge Queiroz | Arshile Gorky, July 8–October 17, 2022, ill. in color, pp. 41–42, as "Last Painting (The Black Monk)".Literature
Devree 1951a
Devree, Howard. "Whitney to Offer Arshile Gorky Art: Memorial Show of Paintings and Drawings Opens at the Museum Tomorrow." New York Times, January 4, 1951, discussed, p. 27, as "untitled".Devree 1951b
Devree, Howard. "A Memorable Year: The Modern Movement at Its 1913 Pitch—The Whitney's Gorky Memorial." New York Times, January 7, 1951, discussed, sec. 2, p. 9, as "the last untitled painting of the year of his death".Mooradian 1955
Mooradian, Karlen. "Arshile Gorky." Armenian Review (Watertown, MA) 8, no. 2 (Summer 1955), discussed p. 57, as "Last Painting".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. 4, ill. in b/w, as senza titolo, il suo ultimo.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. 69, ill. in b/w, p. 148, as "Last Painting".Rudikoff 1958a
Rudikoff, Sonya. "Gorky and Tomlin." Review of Arshile Gorky, by Ethel Schwabacher. Partisan Review (New York) 25, no. 1 (Winter 1958), discussed pp. 159–160, as "Last Painting".Barilli 1961
Barilli, Renato. "La Pittura di Arshile Gorky." La Biennale 43 (April–June 1961), ill. in b/w, p. 14, as "Last Painting".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. 92, ill. in b/w, p. 370, as "Last Painting".O'Hara 1962
O'Hara, Frank. "Art Chronicle." Kulchur (New York) 2, no. 6 (Summer 1962), discussed p. 56, as "Last Painting".Sarkisian 1962
Sarkisian, Mardiros. "Gorky." Ararat (New York) 3 (Summer 1962), ill. in b/w , p. 14, as "Last Painting".Rosenberg 1962a
Rosenberg, Harold. Arshile Gorky: The Man, the Time, the Idea. New York: Horizon Press, 1962. Monograph, discussed p. 122.Reiff 1963a
Reiff, Robert. "The Late Works of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Estimate." Art Journal (New York) 22, no. 3 (Spring 1963), discussed p. 149, as "Last Painting".Levy 1966
Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 208, ill. in color, p. 232, as "Last Painting".Karp 1976
Karp, Diane. "Arshile Gorky's Iconography." Arts Magazine (New York) 50, no. 7 (March 1976), ill. in b/w, p. 85, as "Last Painting".Suenaga 1979
Suenaga, Terukazu. "Mirror of Memory: Gorky's Cruel Change." Mizue (みづゑ) (Tokyo) 9, no. 894 (September 1979), ill. in color, p. 31, dated 1947.Cullinan 1981
Cullinan, Helen. "The First and Last of Arshile Gorky." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), July 5, 1981, discussed, as "Last Painting".de Kooning 1981
de Kooning, Willem and Bruce Hooton. "One Who Saw First—Major Gorky Show." Art/World (New York) 5, no. 8 (April 18–May 16, 1981), ill. in b/w, p. 1, as "Last Painting".Jordan 1981
Jordan, Jim M. "Gorky at the Guggenheim." Art Journal (New York) 41, no. 3 (Fall 1981), discussed p. 265, as "Last Painting".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, pl. V, ill. in color, as "The Black Monk (The Last Painting)".Karp 1982
Karp, Diane. "Arshile Gorky: The Language of Art." Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1982, fig. 89, ill. in b/w, p. 257, as "Last Painting".Reiff 1982
Reiff, Robert. "Review." Review of Arshile Gorky: The Implications of Symbols, by Harry Rand. Art Journal (New York) 42, no. 1 (Spring 1982), discussed p. 77, as "The Black Monk".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. 91, as "Last Painting".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. 360, ill. in b/w, pp. 540–41, as "Last Painting".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. 92, ill. in b/w, as "Last Painting".Lader 1985
Lader, Melvin P. Arshile Gorky. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. Monograph, fig. 106, ill. in b/w, p. 105, as "Last Painting".Frankel 1990
Frankel, Claire. "Gorky: Tragic Lyricism." International Herald Tribune (Paris), March 10–11, 1990, discussed, p. 7, as "Last Painting/The Black Monk".Anfam 1990a
Anfam, David. Abstract Expressionism. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1990, discussed p. 118, as "Last Painting".Rand 1991
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, pl. XV, ill. in color, n.p., as "The Black Monk (The Last Painting)".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. 411, as "The Black Monk (The Last Painting)".Herrera 2003
Herrera, Hayden. Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, fig. 180, ill. in color, as "Last Painting".Mattison 2009
Matttison, Robert S. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafica, 2009. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 143, as "Last Painting (The Black Monk)".Gale 2010
Gale, Matthew. Arshile Gorky: Enigma and Nostalgia. London: Tate Publishing, 2010. Exhibition catalogue (2009–10 Philadelphia), no. 49, ill. in color, p. 89, as "Last Painting (The Black Monk)".Weston 2010
Weston, Neville. "Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective." Craft Arts International (Neutral Bay Junction, N.S.W.) 79 (2010), ill. in color, p. 84, as "Last Painting (The Black Monk)".Wullschläger 2019
Wullschläger, Jackie. "Abstraction in Venice — Jean Arp, Arshile Gorky and Helen Frankenthaler." The Financial Times (London), May 18, 2019 (accessed online), discussed, as "Last Painting".Eisenthal 2023
Eisenthal, Jessica. "Speak to Me About Big Things, Now About Small Things: Arshile Gorky: A Study with Titles." Ursula (New York) 4, no. 9 (Fall/Winter 2023), discussed, pp. 83–84, as "Last Painting" and "Last Painting (The Black Monk)".Warren and Difilippantonio 2023
Warren, Beth Gates, and Marie Difilippantonio. Julien Levy: The Man, His Gallery, His Legacy. New York: Jean and Julien Levy Foundation for the Arts, 2023, fig. 64, ill. in color, p. 211, as "Last Painting (The Black Monk)".![[Drawing, 'Last Painting']c. 1946 D1502](https://cdn.panopticoncr.com/arshgor001/catalogue_images/main_sm/vvwcntnz/81.021%20copy_JPEG%20for%20Database.jpg "[Drawing, 'Last Painting']c. 1946 D1502")
