Water of the Flowery Mill is part of a group of landscape-inspired works that Gorky produced during the last six years of his life. Based on his study of an old mill and bridge on the Housatonic River in Connecticut, it also evokes the artist’s nostalgia for Armenia, from which he and his family had fled some twenty years earlier. Influenced by Surrealism, Gorky’s fluid, biomorphic abstraction translates the landscape into flat, overlapping fields of color and seems to anticipate the gestural brushwork of Abstract Expressionism, a movement that emerged in the 1950s.
Inscription: Signed and dated (upper left): A. Gorky / 44
the artist (1944–45; in March 1945 to Levy Gallery]; [Julien Levy Gallery, New York, 1945–49; in 1949 to Levy]; Julien Levy, Bridgewater, Conn. (1949–56; on consignment to Samuel Kootz Gallery, from March 21, 1950; on consignment to Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, from February 27, 1952; sold in 1956 by Janis Gallery to MMA)
New York. Julien Levy Gallery. "Arshile Gorky," March 6–31, 1945, no. 3.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Fourteen Americans," September 10–December 8, 1946, no. 32 (lent by Julien Levy Gallery).
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Vassar College. "Fourteen Americans," January 5–26, 1947, no. 32.
Palm Beach, Fla. Society of the Four Arts. "Fourteen Americans," February 7–March 7, 1947, no. 32.
Cincinnati Modern Art School. "Fourteen Americans," March 20–April 17, 1947, no. 32.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Fourteen Americans," May 1–June 1, 1947, no. 32.
Baton Rouge. Louisiana State University Museum of Art. "Fourteen Americans," June 15–30, 1947, no. 32.
New York. Kootz Gallery. "Selected Paintings by the Late Arshile Gorky," March 28–April 24, 1950, no. 10.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Arshile Gorky Memorial Exhibition," January 5–February 18, 1951, no. 36 (lent by Mr. Julien Levy).
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Arshile Gorky Memorial Exhibition," March 4–April 22, 1951, no. 36.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Arshile Gorky Memorial Exhibition," May 9–July 9, 1951, no. 36.
Princeton University Art Museum. "Arshile Gorky: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings," October 6–26, 1952, checklist no. 11.
New York. Sidney Janis Gallery. "Arshile Gorky in the Final Years," February 16–March 14, 1953, no. 3.
New York. Sidney Janis Gallery. "Recent Paintings by 7 Americans," September 24–October 20, 1956, no catalogue (checklist no. 6).
Moscow. Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Centre. "American Painting and Sculpture. American National Exhibition," July 25–September 5, 1959, no. 25.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Paintings and Sculpture from the American National Exhibition in Moscow," October 28–November 15, 1959, unnumbered cat. (p. 10).
Venice. Biennale. "XXXI Esposizione Biennale internazionale d'arte: Retrospettive di Gorky," June 16–October 7, 1962, no. 14.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Arshile Gorky: Paintings, Drawings, Studies," December 19, 1962–February 12, 1963, no. 63.
Washington Gallery of Modern Art. "Arshile Gorky: Paintings, Drawings, Studies," March 12–April 1963, no. 63.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940–1970," October 18, 1969–February 8, 1970, no. 91.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat. (p. 116).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971, no. 395.
New York. Sidney Janis Gallery. "25 Years of Janis, Part II: From Pollock to Pop, Op and Sharp-Focus Realism," March 13–April 13, 1974, no. 25.
Katonah, N. Y. Katonah Gallery. "American Painting 1900–1976. II. The American Scene and New Forms of Modernism 1935–1954," January 17–March 14, 1976.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "The Natural Paradise: Painting in America 1800–1950," October 1–November 30, 1976, unnumbered cat. (p. 126; brochure no. 59).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Abstract Expressionism: The Formative Years," October 5–December 3, 1978, unnumbered cat. (fig. 61).
Cleveland Museum of Art. "The Spirit of Surrealism," October 3–November 25, 1979, no. 84.
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948: A Retrospective," April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 160.
New York. Sidney Janis Gallery. "The Expressionist Image: American Art from Pollock to Today," October 9–30, 1982, checklist no. 5.
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. "La Grande Parade: Highlights in Painting after 1940," December 15, 1984–April 15, 1985, no. 96.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection Two: Twentieth-Century Art," June 4–September 2, 1985, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Landscape Painting," April 4–August 13, 1989, no catalogue.
New York. Studio Museum in Harlem. "Wifredo Lam and His Contemporaries 1938–1952," December 6, 1992–April 11, 1993, no. 3.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Arshile Gorky: The Breakthrough Years," May 7–September 17, 1995, no. 11.
Buffalo. Albright-Knox Art Gallery. "Arshile Gorky: The Breakthrough Years," October 13–December 31, 1995, no. 11.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. "Arshile Gorky: The Breakthrough Years," January 13–March 17, 1996, no. 11.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective," October 21, 2009–January 10, 2010, unnumbered cat. (pl. 118).
Royal Academy of Arts, London. "Abstract Expressionism," September 24, 2016–January 2, 2017, no. 17.
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. "Abstract Expressionism," February 3–June 4, 2017, no. 17.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Surrealism Beyond Borders," October 11, 2021–January 30, 2022, unnumbered cat. (fig. 238).
Robert M. Coates. "The Art Galleries." New Yorker 21 (March 17, 1945), p. 77.
Howard Devree. "By Contemporaries." New York Times (April 2, 1950), p. 104.
Margaret Breuning. "A Memorial for Arshile Gorky." Art Digest 24 (April 1, 1950), p. 18.
Ethel Schwabacher. Arshile Gorky Memorial Exhibition. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1951, pp. 33, 46–47, no. 36.
Robert M. Coates. "The Art Galleries." New Yorker 26 (January 20, 1951), p. 62.
James Fitzsimmons. "The Late Gorky." Art Digest 27 (March 1, 1953), p. 16.
Robert M. Coates. "The Art Galleries." New Yorker 29 (February 28, 1953), p. 83.
Howard Devree. "Americans Today: Young Artists Who Worked Abroad—Seven Controversial Pioneers." New York Times (September 30, 1956), p. X11.
Dorothy Adlow. "American Art in Moscow." Christian Science Monitor (June 18, 1959), p. 9.
"Moscow to See Modern U.S. Art." New York Times (May 31, 1959), p. 60.
Harold Rosenberg. "Arshile Gorky: The Last Move." Hudson Review 13 (Spring 1960), p. 110.
William C. Seitz. Arshile Gorky: Paintings, Drawings, Studies. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1962, pp. 31, 54, ill.
Harold Rosenberg. Arshile Gorky: The Man, the Time, the Idea. New York, 1962, ill. p. 89.
Dore Ashton. "Seven American Decades." Studio 165 (April 1963), ill. p. 153 (color detail).
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, pp. 180–82, ill.
A. L. Chanin. Art Guide/ New York. New York, 1965, p. 101, no. 152, ill.
Julien Levy. Arshile Gorky. New York, 1966, p. 35, colorpls. 104, 105, 106 (overall and details).
Jerrold Morris. On the Enjoyment of Modern Art. 2nd rev. ed. [1st ed. 1965]. Greenwich, Conn., 1968, pp. 50–51, 72, colorpl. 15.
Henry Geldzahler. New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940–1970. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1969, pp. 20, 46, no. 91, ill. p. 76 (color).
Mahonri Sharp Young. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art Centenary Exhibitions I. The New York School." Apollo 90 (November 1969), p. 430, fig. 1.
Kenneth Clark. Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, p. 326, no. 395, ill.
Thomas M. Folds inMasterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. New York, [1970], p. 116, ill. (color).
Harry Rand. "The 1930s and Abstract Expressionism." The Genius of American Painting. Ed. John Wilmerding. New York, 1973, ill. p. 254 (color, incorrect orientation).
John I. H. Baur. American Painting 1900–1976. Exh. cat., Katonah Gallery. Katonah, N. Y., 1975, unpaginated, no. 45, ill.
Shirley Glubok. The Art of America Since World War II. New York, 1976, p. 5, ill. p. 4.
Barbara Rose. "Arshile Gorky and John Graham: Eastern Exiles in a Western World." Arts Magazine 50 (March 1976), ill. p. 62 (color).
Edward Lucie-Smith. Art Today: From Abstract Expressionism to Superrealism. Oxford, 1977, colorpl. 37 (detail).
Eliza E. Rathbone inAmerican Art at Mid-Century: The Subjects of the Artist. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1978, p. 63, fig. 3.
Gail Levin in Robert Carleton Hobbs and Gail Levin. Abstract Expressionism: The Formative Years. Exh. cat., Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University. Ithaca, N.Y., 1978, pp. 68, 70–71, fig. 61.
Edward B. Henning. The Spirit of Surrealism. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, 1979, pp. 143, 173, no. 84, ill.
Ellen Schwartz. "The Birth of Abstract Expressionism." Art News 78 (January 1979), p. 76.
Harry Rand. Arshile Gorky: The Implications of Symbols. Montclair, N. J., 1980, pp. 92–97, figs. 6-7, 6-8 (detail).
Lisa M. Messinger in "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1980–1981. New York, 1981, p. 61.
Peter Schjeldahl. "The Great Gorky." Village Voice (May 13, 1981), ill. p. 101.
Stuart Morgan. "Becoming Arshile Gorky." Artscribe no. 31 (October 1981), p. 22, ill.
Lisa M. Messinger. "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1981–1982. New York, [1982], p. 56.
Jim M. Jordan in Jim M. Jordan and Robert Goldwater. The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Catalogue. New York, 1982, pp. 448–50, no. 292, ill.
Robert Reiff. "Books in Review: Harry Rand, 'Arshile Gorky, The Implications of Symbols'." Art Journal 42 (Spring 1982), pp. 77, 79 n. 6.
Kathleen Howard, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 1983, p. 420, no. 22, ill. (color).
Melvin P. Lader. Arshile Gorky. New York, 1985, pp. 75. 77, 85. 89, fig. 72 (color).
Piri Halasz. "Manhattan Museums: The 1940s vs. the 1980s; Part Two: The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Arts Magazine 59 (March 1985), p. 93.
Eugene Victor Thaw. "The Abstract Expressionists." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 44 (Winter 1986–87), p. 9, fig 2 (color).
Elyse Topalian. "Modern Art in the Met." Apollo 124 (October 1986), p. 362.
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 9, The United States of America. New York, 1987, p. 136, colorpl. 103.
Jed Perl. "People Are Talking About. . .Art: Gamble at the Met." Vogue 177 (January 1987), p. 40, ill. (color).
Edward J. Sozanski. "Going Modern: The Metropolitan Opens a Handsome, New Wing." Chicago Tribune (February 8, 1987), p. M13.
Sylvia Hochfield. "Thoroughly Modern Met." Art News 86 (February 1987), pp. 116–17, ill. (color).
Amy Winter inWolfgang Paalen: Zwischen Surrealismus und Abstraktion. Exh. cat., Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Vienna. Klagenfurt, 1993, p. 153, ill.
Barbara Burn, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd rev. ed. (1st ed., 1983). New York, 1994, p. 445, no. 25, ill. (color).
Martica Sawin. Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School. Cambridge, Mass., 1995, p. 369, ill.
John Ash. "Arshile Gorky: How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life." Artforum 34 (September 1995), p. 79.
Roger Bevan. "Autumnal Gorky." Art Newspaper 6 (May 1995), p. 13.
Michael Kimmelman. "A Restless Borrower, and His Own Man." New York Times (May 21, 1995), p. H34.
Stella Paul. Twentieth-Century Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Resource for Educators. New York, 1999, pp. 83–85, ill. (bw and detail) and ill. p. 82 (color).
Matthew Spender. From a High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky. New York, 1999, pp. 274, 282, 293, ill. p. 274.
Hayden Herrera. Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work. New York, 2003, fig. 160 (color).
Alexandre Beredjiklian. Arshile Gorky: Sept thèmes majeurs. Suresnes, France, 2007, p. 71.
Éric de Chassey inArshile Gorky: Hommage. Exh. cat., Centre Pompidou. Paris, 2007, ill. p. 18 (color).
Michael R. Taylor inArshile Gorky: A Retrospective. Ed. Michael R. Taylor. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 2009, pp. 22, 107, 390, colorpl. 118.
Melissa Kerr inArshile Gorky: A Retrospective. Ed. Michael R. Taylor. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 2009, p. 362.
Robert S. Mattison. Arshile Gorky: Works and Writings. Barcelona, 2009, ill. p. 94 (color).
Kim S. Theriault. Rethinking Arshile Gorky. University Park, Penn., 2009, p. 108, fig. 38.
Holland Cotter. "From Mimic to Master of Invention." New York Times (October 23, 2009), p. C25, ill.
Matthew Gale. Arshile Gorky: Enigma and Nostalgia. Exh. cat., Tate Modern. London, 2010, p. 72, no. 33, ill. (color).
David Anfam inAbstract Expressionism. Ed. David Anfam. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London. London, 2016, p. 44, no. 17, ill. p. 149 (color).
David Anfam. "John Golding, American Art and a Personal View." John Golding. Ed. Jenna Lundin Aral. London, 2017, p. 171, fig. 14 (color).
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. p. 87 (color).
Arshile Gorky (American (born Armenia), Khorkom 1904–1948 Sherman, Connecticut)
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