Gorky

Arshile Gorky (Armenian/American 1904-1948)
The Liver is the Cock's Comb, 1944
Oil on canvas
73 1/4 x 98 in. (186 x 249 cm)
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
image: artnet.com

Upon Gorky's arrival in the United States he lived in Watertown, Massachusetts, my old stomping ground. Watertown has one of the largest populations of Armenians outside of Armenia.

"Arshile" is Russian for Achilles, and "Gorky" translates into "the bitter one."

Part of the Public Works of Art Project in 1933, to give artists jobs during the Depression. This work is seen as crossing between surrealism and abstract expressionism.