Celebrating a Centenary, Arshile Gorky exhibition at Hauser & Wirth New York, on view 4 September - 2 November

New York...In the fall of 1924, a young Armenian painter and refugee named Vosdanig Manuk Adoian moved toNew York City and gave himself a new name: Arshile Gorky. With that gesture, the artist (c. 1904-1948) embarkedupon a journey of self-reinvention and aesthetic innovation that would parallel New York’s own transformationfrom an emerging city into a surging metropolis and a cultural epicenter. In a year that saw Manhattan host thepremiere of George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue,’ the public opening of the Morgan Library, the completion ofthe gilded skyscraper known as the American Radiator Building and, in many respects, the birth of the HarlemRenaissance, Gorky took up residence and began forging a path toward becoming one of the most significantartists of the American avant-garde.

Gorky in his studio in the early 1930s, with animprovised sculpture

Photo: Courtesy theArshile Gorky Foundation

Untitled (Virginia Summer)

c. 1946-1947

Oil on canvas

128.5 x 159 cm / 50 5/8 x 625/8 in

Private Collection

Photo: Jon Etter

Untitled (Sunset in Central Park)

1931

Oil on canvas

62.2 x 77.5 cm / 24 1/2 x 30 1/2 in

Myron Kunin Collection of American Art,

Minneapolis, MN

Photo: Jerry L. Thompson

Untitled (Drawing, Agony)

c. 1947

Charcoal, pastel, graphite pencil, and gouache on paper

101.6 x 130.2 cm / 40 x 51 1/4 in

Private Collection

Photo: Tim Nighswander

Untitled (Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia: 1934)

c. 1933-1934

Ink on paper

24.1 x 73.7 cm / 9 1/2 x 29 in

Photo: Stefan Altenburger