graphite and colored crayon on off-white wove paper
Credit Line
Gift of Walter K. Gutman, Class of 1924
Copyright
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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.'"
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