Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
This object does not yet have a description.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1993.229
People
Arshile Gorky, American ( Vosdanig Adoian in Khorkom (present-day Dilkaya), Van Province, Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey) 1904 - 1948 Sherman, CT)
Title
Study for "The Plow and the Song"
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1945-1946
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/305907

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Two kinds of graphite, colored wax crayons, spatters of oil paint, squared in graphite and brown crayon, on cream wove paper mounted on masonite
Dimensions
46 x 64.6 cm (18 1/8 x 25 7/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: graphite, l.r.: A. Gorky

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Agnes Gorky Phillips. [Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, New York], sold; to Lois Orswell, Pomfret Center, Connecticut, 1958, gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1993.

NOTE: Provenance information from the curatorial file.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell
Copyright
© 2020 The Arshile Gorky Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
1993
Object Number
1993.229
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

  • William Chapin Seitz, "Arshile Gorky's 'The Plough and the Song' ", Bulletin of the Allen Memorial Art Museum (Oberlin, OH, Fall 1954), Vol. 12, p. 4-15, repr. p. 7.
  • Late Drawings by Gorky, exh. cat., Sidney Janis Gallery (New York, NY, 1959), repr. no. 37
  • Robert F. Reiff, "A Stylistic Analysis of Arshile Gorky's Art From 1943-1948" (Thesis, Columbia University, 1961), Unpublished, p. 158
  • William Chapin Seitz, Arshile Gorky: Paintings, Drawings, Studies, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY, 1962), p. 45-47, repr. p. 45
  • Julien Levy, Arshile Gorky, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1966), Plate 187.
  • Harry Z. Rand, "Arshile Gorky's Iconography" (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1974), Unpublished, p. 161, figures 101, 102 (detail), 103 (detail).
  • E. A. Carmean, Jr. and Eliza E. Rathbone, American Art at Mid-Century: The Subjects of the Artist, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C, 1978), p. 69, repr. fig. 10
  • Modern Art at Harvard, exh. cat., Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan, 1999), cat. no. 55, repr. (color)
  • Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 56, fig. 71, pp. 76, 150-151, 371, 377, 381
  • Janie C. Lee and Melvin P. Lader, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective of Drawings, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, 2003), cat. no. 99, pl. 99 (color)
  • Harry Cooper, Jody Patterson, and Robert Storr, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, exh. cat., ed. Dr. Michael R. Taylor, Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, 2009), no. 145, repr.

Exhibition History

  • Drawings for Principal Paintings by Gorky, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, 09/26/1955 - 10/22/1955
  • New York School: From the First Generation, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/10/1975 - 01/06/1976
  • Modern Art at Harvard, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 07/31/1999 - 09/26/1999; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, 10/09/1999 - 11/14/1999; Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Nagoya, 12/02/1999 - 12/27/1999; Oita City Museum, Oita, 01/06/2000 - 02/06/2000; Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Ibaraki, 02/11/2000 - 03/26/2000
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/21/2002 - 02/16/2003
  • Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective of Drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 11/20/2003 - 02/15/2004; Menil Collection, Houston, 03/05/2004 - 05/09/2004
  • Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 10/15/2009 - 01/10/2010

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu