Object number2000.6

The Horns of the Landscape

Date1944

Artist Arshile Gorky (American, b. Turkey, 1904 - 1948)

CultureAmerican

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 29 15/16 x 33 7/8 in. (76 x 86 cm)
Framed: 31 11/16 x 35 3/4 x 2 1/4 in. (80.5 x 90.8 x 5.7 cm)

Credit LineGift from the collection of Katherine Sanford Deutsch, class of 1940

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Painting

SignedOn recto, signed upper left corner: A Gorky

InscribedOn recto, by artist, upper left corner: 44

Catalogue raisonnéArshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné, P278BibliographyCoates, Robert M. "The Art Galleries." The New Yorker 33, no. 43 (December 14, 1957), discussed p. 142, as The Horns of the Landscape. Reiff, Robert F. "A Stylistic Analysis of Arshile Gorky's Art from 1943–1948." Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, New York, 1961, fig. 61, ill. in b/w, p. 339, as The Horns of the Landscape. Arshile Gorky: Schilderijen en Tekeningen. Rotterdam: Museum Boymans van Beuingen, 1965. Exhibition catalogue (1965 AC–Brussels and Rotterdam), erroneously ill. in b/w, as no. 67, "In dat jaar werd het kroontjeskruid gemaaid". Jordan, Jim M. "The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: New Discoveries, New Sources, and Chronology." In The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Catalogue, by Jim M. Jordan and Robert Goldwater. New York and London: New York University Press, 1982, discussed p. 85, as The Horns of the Landscape. Jordan, Jim M. "Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings." In The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Catalogue, by Jim M. Jordan and Robert Goldwater. New York and London: New York University Press, 1982, no. 278, ill. in b/w, pp. 429–30, as The Horns of the Landscape. Nobuyuki, Okabe, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College," (Japan: Yamagata Museum of Art) Cat. no. 50, p. 109 Mundy, James, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center: Vassar College The History and Collection (New York: Prestel Publishing, 2007), p. 117, p. 116 repr. Church, Jennifer, Possibilities of Perception (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013), cover, repr. Christie's Auction Catalogue, Masterpieces from the S.I. Newhouse Collection (comparative illustration in online lot essay), May 11, 2023, Sale #22522, New York, 2023 Masterpieces from the S.I. Newhouse Collection: A Collector's Keepsake), Christies , New York, 2023 Davidson, Vanessa K, In Creative Harmony: Three Artistic Partnerships, Arshile Gorky and Isamu Noguchi (e-Publication) by Vanessa K. Davidson, Claire Howard, and Hannah Klemm, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, February 16 - July 20, 2025, p. 69, plate 15 ill.ProvenanceThe artist;
Julien Levy Gallery, New York (March 1945);
Julien Levy, Bridgewater, Connecticut (1949);
Estate of Arshile Gorky, by transfer (March 1950);
[Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (October 11, 1952)];
Katherine Sanford Deutsch, Greenwich, Connecticut (February 1958);
Richard E. Deutsch, Nantucket, Massachusetts, by descent (1989);
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, by gift (2000)
Exhibition HistoryArshile Gorky, Julien Levy Gallery, New York, NY, March 6 – 31, 1945;

Arshile Gorky in the Final Years, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY, February 16 – March 14, 1953;

33 Paintings by Arshile Gorky, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY, December 2 – 28, 1957;

Highlights from the Vassar College Art Collection, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, NY, July 13 – September 11, 1993;

The American Avant-Garde: A Decade of Change, 1936-1946, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT, September 11, 2000-January 10, 2001;

Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, Shimane Art Museum, Matsue, Japan, March 7 - May 11, 2008; Ishibashi Museum of Art, Kurume, Japan, May 17 - July 20, 2008; Yamagata Museum of Art, Yamagata, Japan, July 30 - August 31, 2008; Fuchu Art Museum, Fuchu, Japan, September 6 - November 3, 2008; Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum, Miyazaki, Japan, November 14 - December 14, 2008;

In Creative Harmony: Three Artistic Partnerships, Arshile Gorky and Isamu Noguchi, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, February 16 - July 20, 2025

Label TextThis painting is one of Gorky’s landscape-inspired visions, produced during the last six years of his life. These works were based on his intense study of nature during stays in Connecticut and Virginia mixed with nostalgic reminiscences of his homeland. His paintings often show both the influence of European Surrealists such as Miró and his own tensions between representational and abstract tendencies. In the 1940s Gorky’s work shifted toward a more fluid, biomorphic abstraction that continued to incorporate automatic drawing while anticipating the gestural brushwork of Abstract Expressionism. The painting’s freshness and urgency evoke the artist’s physical contact with the picture surface and the act of painting itself – allowing it to seem at home among works by gestural “action” painters like Jackson Pollock with whom Gorky shared a similar philosophy about abstraction. In Gorky’s words, “Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind.”

DescriptionDynamic, amorphous, and cramped forms in various colors including yellow, black, purple, blue and red with drips of paint, akin to being washed away.

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu