Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné
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D1557a
[Drawing for Breton's "Young Cherry Trees Secured Against Hares"]
1945
Ink on paper
12 1/8 x 12 in. (30.8 x 30.5 cm)
Not inscribed
Private collection
Provenance
Possibly André Breton, New York . . .
Private collection (by 2017)
Private collection, Paris (2017)
Literature
Breton 1946
Breton, André. Young Cherry Trees secured against Hares / Jeunes Cerisiers garantis contre les lièvres. Translated by Edouard Roditi. New York, London, and Paris: View Editions, A. Zwemmer, and La Jeune Parque, 1946, ill. in b/w.
Mattison 2009
Matttison, Robert S. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafica, 2009. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 107, as "Untitled drawing reproduced in Young Cherry Trees Secured Against Hares."
Notes
The drawing is overmatted; the inscription information is known from the records of the Arshile Gorky Foundation.

Commentary

In the spring of 1945, André Breton (1896–1966) asked Gorky to produce drawings to accompany his forthcoming book of poems which he titled Young Cherry Trees Secured Against Hares / Jeunes cerisiers garantis contre les lièvres. Published in French with English translations by Edouard Roditi, the cover was designed by Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968). The first edition of 1,000 copies featured two photo-mechanically reproduced line drawings by Gorky. The second reproduction is of this drawing. The marking on the verso of the drawing, 5 1/4”, likely refers to the width of the reproduction. A limited deluxe edition of twenty-five copies was also issued, each numbered and signed on the colophon page, for which Gorky contributed two unique hand-colored drawings.

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