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Preview image of work. graphite and colored crayon on off-white wove paper,  Untitled Drawing 6221

1966.91

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Untitled Drawing

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Artist

Arshile Gorky (Turkish Armenia, 1904 - 1948, Sherman, Connecticut)

Title

Untitled Drawing

Creation Date

1943

Century

20th century

Dimensions

15 1/2 in. x 22 5/8 in. (39.37 cm x 57.47 cm)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

graphite and colored crayon on off-white wove paper

Credit Line

Gift of Walter K. Gutman, Class of 1924

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

1966.91

According to poet Peter Balakian, “In this drawing, you feel both the spontaneity and the organization of Gorky’s intellect. The speckled gradation of the crayon, the smudging of graphite, the smearing of crayon, such as the brown in the upper left, create compelling textures. A rich and complex colorist, Gorky brings painterly dimensions to this drawing: the plum-colored plume, the smears of orange, brown, forest green, and chartreuse; the granular streaks of indigo blue at the top right; the yellow blended with some graphite in the lower right. The drawing is a dance of shapes inseparable from the colors that give the work a sensuous power. And the erotic evocativeness of the forms--breast shapes, nipples, phalluses--suggest a vision of what Walt Whitman called 'the procreative urge of the world.'"