Born in Armenia, Arshile Gorky, 1902-1948, escaped the tragedy of war and genocide by moving to NYC where he taught himself to paint. He is considered one of the founders of “Abstract Impressionism”. 
“At a time when the American avant-garde privileged originality over traditional working methods, Gorky was a nonconformist who developed his personal vocabulary through a series of intensive apprenticeships to the styles of other artists, including Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger, and Joan Miro, before developing his own unique and deeply influential visual language in the early 1940s. Gorky’s prominence in the New York art scene led him to befriend Andre Breton and Roberto Matta-fellow emigres and key figures in the surrealist group-who came to have an enormous impact on Gorky’s mature style.“
“ARSHILE GORKY: A RETROSPECTIVE” * Until SEPT 20, 2010
MOCA – Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
250 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA