The most important of the Newman Gorkys, this work was made during the artist’s regular visits to his wife’s family farm in Virginia. Though he appreciated bucolic Virginia, what he saw there reminded him of his native Armenia: “I view nature in America, but memory plays favorites. And for me, that which we had in Armenia had a distinct essence.”
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Artwork Details
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Title:Virginia Landscape
Artist:Arshile Gorky (American (born Armenia), Khorkom 1904–1948 Sherman, Connecticut)
Date:1943
Medium:Graphite and colored crayons on paper
Dimensions:17 × 22 in. (43.2 × 55.9 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, 2006
Accession Number:2006.32.20
the artist (1943–d. 1948; his estate, from 1948; sold to Galleria dell'Obelisco); [Galleria dell'Obelisco, Rome, by 1957; sold on March 6, 1957 to World House Galleries]; [World House Galleries, New York, 1957–62; on consignment in April 1962 to Everett Ellin Gallery, Los Angeles; sold in 1962 to Newman]; Muriel Kallis Newman, Chicago (1962–2006; her gift to MMA)
Rome. Galleria dell'Obelisco. "Arshile Gorky," February 4–18, 1957.
New York. World House Gallery. "4th Summer International," June 22–July 29, 1958, no. 20.
Los Angeles. Everett Ellin Gallery. "Arshile Gorky: 40 Drawings from the Period 1929 thru 1947," April 9–May 5, 1962, no. 13.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Arshile Gorky: Paintings, Drawings, Studies," December 19, 1962–February 12, 1963, no. 53.
Washington Gallery of Modern Art. "Arshile Gorky: Paintings, Drawings, Studies," March 12–April 1963, no. 53.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Chicago Collectors," September 20–October 27, 1963, unnumbered cat. (p. 5).
London. Tate Gallery. "Arshile Gorky: Paintings and Drawings," April 2–May 2, 1965, no. 54.
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. "Arshile Gorky: Paintings and Drawings," May 22–June 27, 1965, no. 54.
Rotterdam. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. "Arshile Gorky: Paintings and Drawings," July 24–September 5, 1965, no. 64.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "An American Choice: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection," May 21–September 27, 1981, unnumbered cat. (p. 115).
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. "Dada and Surrealism in Chicago Collections," December 1, 1984–January 27, 1985, unnumbered cat. (p. 151).
Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "Abstract Expressionism, Works on Paper: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 26–April 4, 1993, no. 11.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Abstract Expressionism, Works on Paper: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 4–September 12, 1993, extended to November 7, 1993, no. 11.
New York. Gagosian Gallery. "Arshile Gorky: Late Paintings," January 11–March 5, 1994, unnumbered cat. (p. 23).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 17, 2007–February 3, 2008, extended to March 2, 2008, no. 14.
Robert Frank Reiff. A Stylistic Analysis of Arshile Gorky's Art from 1943-1948. New York and London, 1977, pp. 221–22, fig. 90.
Hilton Kramer. "Modernist Show Moves Met Firmly into Art of 20th Century." New York Times (May 22, 1981), p. C1.
Dawn Ades et al. In the Mind's Eye: Dada and Surrealism. Ed. Terry Ann R. Neff. Exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. London, 1986, ill. p. 151.
John Golding, Robert Storr, Matthew Spender, and Lisa Corrin. Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948. Exh. cat., Whitechapel Gallery. London, 1990, p. 173.
Michael Kimmelman. "Arshile Gorky: Late Years of a Tragic Figure." New York Times (February 6, 1994), p. 31.
Martica Sawin. Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School. Cambridge, Mass., 1995, ill. p. 326.
Martica Sawin inEuropean Muses, American Masters, 1870–1950. Ed. Fronia W. Simpson. Exh. cat., Portland Museum of Art. Portland, Maine, 2004, ill. p. 114.
Lisa M. Messinger in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 2005–2006." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 64 (Fall 2006), p. 57, ill. (color).
Lisa Mintz Messinger inAbstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow, Lisa Mintz Messinger, and Nan Rosenthal. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 50, 53–56, no. 14, ill. (color).
Kim S. Theriault. Rethinking Arshile Gorky. University Park, Penn., 2009, colorpl. 19.
Arshile Gorky (American (born Armenia), Khorkom 1904–1948 Sherman, Connecticut)
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