
Jean (Hans) Arp
Overturned Blue Shoe with Two Heels Under a Black Vault
ca. 1925
Arshile Gorky
Summer 1944
Arshile Gorky spent the greater part of 1944 in Hamilton, Virginia, where he produced a large number of drawings, many of which were conceived as preliminary studies for paintings. This work is preceded by such a study, that sets out its motifs, their ordering within the composition, and the arrangement of color. Gorky’s enthusiastic response to the natural surroundings of rural Virginia infused his work with expressive freedom. Landscape references appear in Untitled; though the white ground is uniform, it is empty at the very top of the canvas, suggesting a slice of sky, while the “earth” below is replete with vegetal shapes and floral colors. A clear gravitational sense is produced by the dripping of paint thinned with turpentine, a technique suggested by Matta. The techniques and content of Surrealism influenced the development of Gorky’s language of free, organic, vitally curvilinear forms. In his emphasis on the autonomous expressive potential of line, form, and color, Gorky anticipated the concerns of Abstract Expressionism.
Artist | Arshile Gorky |
Date | Summer 1944 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 167 x 178.2 cm |
Credit line | Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York) |
Accession | 76.2553 PG 152 |
Collection | Peggy Guggenheim Collection |
Type | Painting |
Copy caption
Jean (Hans) Arp
ca. 1925
Vittorio Tavernari
1954
Cy Twombly
1955
Eduardo Chillida
1970
On view