Three Forms
1937
Arshile Gorky American, born Ottoman Empire (Present Day Turkey), c. 1904–1948
United States
Born to a peasant family in Turkish Armenia, Arshile Gorky was deeply affected by the terrible hardships and poverty of his first 15 years. He immigrated to the United States in 1920, after witnessing his mother’s death from starvation. Once established in America, his artistic style rapidly moved from formal, classical depiction toward abstraction.
Pen and brush and black ink with traces of oil paint on ivory wove paper with a graphite underdrawing