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Image in Khorkom
Arshile Gorky
On view
Painting
American, born Van Province, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), c. 1904-1948
Image in Khorkom
c. 1938-39
oil on canvas
1969.4
35 3/4 x 47 5/8 inches
Arshile Gorky was born in Turkey (as Vostanik Manoug Adoian), fleeing the genocide of the Armenian population of the country in 1915 to arrive in the United States in 1920. By the 1930s, Gorky was creating abstractions filled with fluid, amorphous shapes influenced by Surrealism, such as “Image at Khorkom." Underlying the work is also a reference to Gorky's Armenian background and memories, as the title refers to the village where Gorky was born: Khorkom.