TATE DISPLAYS ARSHILE GORKY ART REMEMBERING HIS MOTHER
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent
This is London
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Feb 9 2010
UK
Two haunting paintings of artist Arshile Gorky and his mother can be
seen together for the first time at the Tate.
They are a highlight of the first retrospective of Gorky’s work in
Europe in 20 years, and were inspired by a treasured photograph.
Both are entitled The Artist And His Mother. Born around 1904 in what
is now Turkey, he and his family were forced out during the Ottoman
Empire’s 1915 genocide of its Armenian population. His mother died
of starvation in 1919 and he left for America in 1920, to become a
key Abstract Expressionist.
The paintings are normally in New York and Washington. They are at
Tate Modern from tomorrow until 3 May.