Mar. 1, 1962 - A collection of about 15 works by the late Arshile Gorky (pictured) were reported this evening to have been lost in the crash this morning of the jet airliner in Jamaica Bay, New York. Works by Gorky, an outstanding abstractionist and controversial figure in the art world, had been destroyed before by fire. On two occasions before he died, his paintings were destroyed in studio fires. Two other fires since his death have destroyed other of his works, including one painting that was in the Governor’s Mansion in Albany when fire swept through the residence last year. A set of drawings reported on their way to Ellin’s Gallery in Los Angeles was destroyed today. Gorky, a first cousin of Maxim Gorky, the writer, came to this country from Russia in 1924. Marked by great talent, he was also marked by tragedy. Not long after learning that he had cancer, he was in a car accident and suffered a broken back. The fires also depressed him, and in 1948 he hanged himself in his barn studio in Sherman, Conn.
Comments