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Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Courtesy the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
D0659
(Study for The Artist and His Mother)
c. 1934–36
Graphite pencil on paper
24 x 19 in. (61 x 48.3 cm)
Recto, in pencil, lower center: 9 18 34; 15; upper right: 2 2/[illegible] / 2 4; center right: 3; [illegible]5; / 5 3/[illegible] / 8 3/[illegible]; 3/4; lower right: 2 5/4; / [sideways]: 5 1/[illegible] / 5 [illegible]/[illegible] / 3 1/2 / [line] / 14 3/4[?]
Verso not inscribed
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund (1979.13.4)
Provenance
Estate of Arshile Gorky (1948)
[M. Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York (1967)]
Estate of Arshile Gorky (March 7, 1974)
Private collection (1975)
[Xavier Fourcade Inc., New York (September 20, 1978)]
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (February 7, 1979)
Exhibitions
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. 16, ill. in b/w, p. 17; p. 53, as "The Artist and His Mother," n.d. 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. 17, ill. in b/w, as "De kunstenaar en zijn moeder / The artist and his mother," dated c. 1926–1936. 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. 17, ill. in b/w, as "The Artist and His Mother," dated c. 1926–36.
1969e New York
M. Knoedler & Co. Inc, New York, Gorky: Drawings, November 25–December 27, 1969. (Exhibition catalogue: Jordan 1969), no. 45, ill. in b/w, p. 30; p. 57, as "The Artist and His Mother," dated c. 1936.
1977 Zurich
Kunsthaus Zurich, Malerei und Photographie im Dialog von 1840 bis Heute, May 13–July 24, 1977, no. 53, ill. in b/w, p. 31, as "Zeichnung zum Gemälde "Arshile Gorky mit seiner Mutter"".
1979b New York
Xavier Fourcade Inc, New York, Arshile Gorky: Important Paintings and Drawings, April 3–28, 1979, ill. in b/w, as "The Artist and His Mother," dated 1936.
1981–82 New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 74, ill. in b/w, p. 121, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Mother," dated c. 1936. Traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, September 12–November 6, 1981; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 3, 1981–February 28, 1982.
1989–90 Madrid
Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948, October 17–December 23, 1989, no. 62, ill. in color, p. 140, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Mother," dated c. 1936. Traveled to: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, January 19–March 25, 1990.
2002d New York
Gagosian Gallery, New York, Arshile Gorky: Portraits, March 20–April 27, 2002, ill. in color, pp. 22–23, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Mother," dated c. 1926–36.
2003–04b New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective of Drawings, November 20, 2003–February 15, 2004, no. 57, ill. in color, p. 117; p. 243, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Mother," dated 1926–36. Traveled to: Menil Collection, Houston, March 5–May 9, 2004.
2006 Fresno
Fresno Art Museum and the Armenian Museum, California, Vosdanik Manouk Adoian a.k.a. Arshile Gorky, April 7–June 4, 2006, no. 11, ill. in color, p. 29; p. 50, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Mother," dated 1934.
2009–10 Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, October 15, 2009–January 10, 2010. (Exhibition catalogue: Taylor 2009a), pl. 29, ill. in color, p. 187; p. 386, as "Study for The Artist and His Mother," dated c. 1926, [exhibited in Philadelphia only]. 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).
Literature
Coke 1964
Coke, Van Deren. The Painter and the Photograph. Albuequerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1964, fig. 160, ill. in b/w, p. 68, as "The Artist and His Mother".
Levy 1966
Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 24, ill. in b/w, p. 48, as "The Artist and His Mother," dated c. 1936.
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, fig. 11, ill. in b/w, p. 68, as "The Artist and His Mother".
Richard 1979
Richard, Paul. "Artful Melodies of Pain." The Washington Post, June 2, 1979, ill. in b/w, p. C1.
Kramer 1979a
Kramer, Hilton. "A Rare Gorky and Prints of Prendergast." New York Times, April 13, 1979, discussed, p. C1.
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. 2–11, ill. in b/w, p. 24, as "The Artist and His Mother".
Lader 1984
Lader, Melvin P. "Arshile Gorky's The Artist and His Mother: Further Study of Its Evolution, Sources, and Meaning." Arts Magazine (New York) 58 (January 1984), fig. 4, ill. in b/w, p. 98, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Mother".
Lader 1985
Lader, Melvin P. Arshile Gorky. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. Monograph, fig. 29, ill. in b/w, p. 34, as "The Artist and His Mother".
Rand 1991
Rand, Harry. Arshile Gorky: The Implication of Symbols. Rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. Monograph, fig. 2–11, ill. in b/w, p. 26, as "The Artist and His Mother".
Cotter 2002
Cotter, Holland. "Suspended Between Modernism and an Armenian Past." New York Times, April 12, 2002, ill. in b/w, p. E35, as "The Artist and His Mother".
Herrera 2002
Herrera, Hayden. "Gorky's Distant Likenesses." Art in America (New York) 90 (November 2002), ill. in color, p. 150, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Mother".
Herrera 2003
Herrera, Hayden. Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, fig. 7, ill. in b/w, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Mother".
Princenthal 2004
Princenthal, Nancy. "Line Readings: Arshile Gorky's Line Drawings." Art in America (New York) 92 (May 2004), ill. in color, p. 134, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Mother".
Beredjiklian 2007
Beredjiklian, Alexandre. Arshile Gorky: sept thèmes majeurs. Suresnes, France: Alphamédian & Johanet; Lisbon: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 2007. Monograph, discussed p. 27, as "Portrait de l'artiste et de sa mère," dated c. 1936 ?
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. 55, ill. in color, p. 82, as "The Artist and His Mother".
Mattison 2009
Matttison, Robert S. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafica, 2009. Monograph, ill. in color, p. 21, as "Study for The Artist and His Mother".
Meyer 2022
Meyer, James. "The Double: Identity and Difference in Art since 1900." In The Double: Identity and Difference in Art since 1900. Washington, D.C, Princeton, and Oxford: National Gallery of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2022. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 9, ill. in color, p. 23; discussed pp. 23–24, as "Portrait of the Artist and His Mother".
Notes

Verso, in blue ink, upper left [by Ethel Schwabacher]: Portrait of the Artist / with his mother [sideways]; 1926 [sideways]; 2 [sideways and circled]; / in ink: Agnes Phillips Collection [sideways]; in pencil, lower left [not in artist's hand]: I.21; lower right: 62.1256

The verso inscription information and marking are known from a photograph provided by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Commentary

The drawing is after a black-and-white photograph of Gorky and his mother Shushan der Marderosian Adoian (1880–1919) (see supplementary image). The photograph was taken c. 1912 and was intended as a memento for the artist's father Setrag Adoian (c. 1871–1948) who had immigrated to the United States in 1906 and to whom it was sent. 

The penciled grid superimposed over the drawing indicates that it served as a study for a painting. Gorky numbered the square units along the top edge of the sheet one through nineteen and the squares on the right edge one through twenty-four as an aid in transferring the composition to the canvas. This is further evidenced in the two splotches of oil paint that appear on the drawing's right edge.1 There are two paintings (P114 and P115) for which this drawing may be a preliminary study, both titled The Artist and His Mother.

Of the known drawings relating to the The Artist and His Mother composition, this drawing is the only one in which Gorky's head appears tilted and his gaze directed downward—two details that differ from the source photograph. According to Gorky scholar Melvin P. Lader who first noticed these details, they suggest that the drawing is most similar to the version of The Artist and His Mother in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (P115).2

Gorky inscribed several numbers on the recto of the drawing. In the upper and lower right corners, the inscriptions appear to be calculations, possibly referring to the sizing-up of the composition onto the canvas. At the lower edge, in the bottom of the column inscribed "8," are the numbers "9 18 34." The significance of this inscription, as is the case with the other numerical inscriptions, is unclear. Some scholars, including Lader, understood this to be the drawing's date: September 18, 1934. Lader writes, "If we accept the date on the drawing, it not only documents a major transformation that led to the final resolution of the work, but it fits in well with the eyewitness accounts."3 The numerous eyewitness accounts by Gorky's contemporaries, cited by Lader, all suggest that P115 was finished c. 1934 (see commentary for P115). As such, a date of 1934 for the drawing is highly plausible. The drawing's date of c. 1934–36 in the catalogue raisonné accommodates Lader's interpretation of the inscription as well as the year that the drawing has been historically dated, namely c. 1936.

1. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Condition Report, June 6, 2005, AGF Archives.

2. Melvin P. Lader, "Arshile Gorky's The Artist and His Mother: Further Study of Its Evolution, Sources, and Meaning," ARTS Magazine 58 (January 1984): 99.

3. Ibid.

(Study for The Artist and His Mother), c. 1934–36, D0659. Gorky and his mother, Shushan Der Marderosian Adoian, Van, c. 1912. Unknown photographer (likely Hovhannes Avedaghayan). Courtesy of Dr. Bruce Berberian.
Gorky and his mother, Shushan Der Marderosian Adoian, Van, c. 1912. Unknown photographer (likely Hovhannes Avedaghayan). Courtesy of Dr. Bruce Berberian.

Portraits (sitter identified): Shushan der Marderosian (artist's mother)

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