Untitled

"Gorky's drawings clearly demonstrate his talent as a draftsman. But even more importantly, they allow us to witness the consistent evolution of his working method, giving us a better way to understand this complex artist and his work. Of course, drawing should be seen in relation to numerous other factors that may have shaped the course of his creativity. The events of his life, his identity as an Armenian immigrant struggling to become a reputable artist in America, his relationship to other artists and movements, and various social and political factors must also be taken into account. Yet Gorky, as an artist obsessed with form and its power of expression, always maintained that drawing was the very basis of his art, and he utilized this medium to shape and imagine the world around him" (M. Lader "What the Drawings Reveal, Some Observations on Arshile Gorky's Working Method" in Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective of Drawings, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2003, p. 50).