Arshile Gorky By Matthew Gale

In VGC.\nFrom the Back Cover\nArshile\n Gorky (1904-48) is a pivotal figure in mid twentieth century American \npainting, providing a bridge between European modernism and the \ngeneration who established the New York School. Coinciding with a major \nretrospective exhibition of his work at Tate Modern, this succinct and \naccessible survey examines a career that began and ended with tragedy \nbut that produced some of the greatest paintings of a generation. Gorky \nwas born Vosdanik Adoian in Armenia, his family moving to the city of \nVan in 1910. When the Turkish army laid siege to Van in 1914, he took \npart in its defence, eventually fleeing 100 miles on foot with his \nsister and his mother, who died of starvation in Eastern Armenia in \n1919. In 1920 the artist arrived as a refugee in New York with his \nsister, taking his second name from the Russian poet Maxim Gorky, whose \ncousin he sometimes claimed to be. He swiftly turned to art, studying \nand later teaching at the Newn