Arshile Gorky was an Armenian-American painter who had a seminal influence on Abstract Expressionism.
23 Facts About Arshile Gorky
2.
Arshile Gorky spent the last years of his life as a national of the United States.
3.
Arshile Gorky was born in the village of Khorgom, situated on the shores of Lake Van in the Ottoman Empire.
4.
Arshile Gorky's birthdate is often cited as April 15,1904, but the year might have been 1902 or 1903.
5.
In 1915, Arshile Gorky fled Lake Van during the Armenian genocide and escaped with his mother and three sisters into Russian-controlled territory.
6.
In 1923, Arshile Gorky enrolled in the recently founded New England School of Art in Boston, eventually becoming a part-time instructor.
7.
In 1925 he was asked by Edmund Greacen of the Grand Central Art Galleries to teach at the Grand Central School of Art; Arshile Gorky accepted and remained with them until 1931.
8.
In 1927, Arshile Gorky met Ethel Kremer Schwabacher and developed a lifelong friendship.
9.
In 1931, Arshile Gorky sent a group of works ranging in price from $100 to $450 to the Downtown Gallery in New York.
10.
In 1933, Arshile Gorky became one of the first artists employed by the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project.
11.
In 1935, Arshile Gorky signed a three-year contract with the Guild Art Gallery.
12.
Arshile Gorky made two versions; the other is in the National Gallery of Art Washington, DC.
13.
Arshile Gorky had an extraordinary gift for hitting the nail on the head; remarkable.
14.
In 1941, Arshile Gorky met and married Agnes Ethel Magruder daughter of Admiral John Holmes Magruder, Jr.
15.
Arshile Gorky soon nicknamed her "Mougouch", an Armenian term of endearment.
16.
Maro Arshile Gorky became a painter, and married the British sculptor and writer Matthew Spender, son of the poet Sir Stephen Spender.
17.
From 1946, Arshile Gorky suffered a series of crises: his studio barn burned down ; he underwent a colostomy for cancer; Mougouch had an affair with Roberto Matta.
18.
In 1948, Arshile Gorky's neck was broken and his painting arm temporarily paralyzed in a car accident, and his wife left him, taking their children with her.
19.
Arshile Gorky was later married to British writer Xan Fielding.
20.
On July 21,1948, after telling a neighbor and one of his students that he was going to kill himself, Arshile Gorky was found hanged in his barn studio.
21.
Arshile Gorky had a distinct, signature style and was known for his draftsmanship.
22.
Arshile Gorky used twisted but elegant lines to bring in 'biomorphic' forms in his abstract paintings along with an overlay of colours to create a complex landscape of lines and colours on the canvas.
23.
In 2015 a fountain monument commemorating Arshile Gorky was erected in Edremit, a town near his birthplace.