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Arshile Gorky[Ar´shIl gOr´kE] Pronunciation Key, 1904–48, American painter, b. Armenia as Vostanig Adoian. He emigrated to the United States in 1920. Inspired by Ingres and Picasso, Gorky developed a figurative style of great refinement. A more radical turn in his art was prompted by the spontaneous automatism found in surrealism and in the works of MirO and Matta. Gorky began (c.1940) to create abstractions consisting of involved organic shapes enveloped in an aura of mystery. He pioneered in the development of abstract expressionism. His reputation had already been established when he committed suicide at the age of 44. Gorky is well represented in American collections. Water of the Flowery Mill is in the Metropolitan Museum, and there are works at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum, New York City.
See catalog by J. Levy (1966); biographies by D. Waldman (1987) and M. Spender (1999); K. Mooradian, The Many Worlds of Arshile Gorky (1981); H. Rand, Arshile Gorky: The Implications of Symbols (1981).
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