Arshile Gorky is better known for his role in 20th-century American art than he is for his actual work. The collective memory, besides noting that his art reputedly links 1930s Surrealism to 1950s Abstract Expressionism, is rather vague about his pictures: were they realistic? Abstract? Easier to remember that he committed suicide, that he was a romantic character, that he was a liar.

These two beautifully illustrated books, one the catalogue for an exhibition of his drawings,[*] the other a detailed Life and Work, are a reminder of the extremely individual character of his work. Equally extraordinary is the record of how a great modern painter created and then destroyed himself in America, having arrived in the United States early in 1920 as Vosdanik Adoian, a 19-year-old refugee from Turkish Armenia.

LRB 1 April 2004 | PDF Download