WATERTOWN — This year has been an exceptional one for Armenian Museum of America. After two intriguing exhibitions devoted to the art of Varujan Boghosian and then Serj Tankian, it concluded the year with a blockbuster titled “Arshile Gorky: Redrawing Community and Connections.”
Gorky, whose birthname was Vosdanig Adoyan, is one of the most famous Armenian artists of modern times.
The museum had over 250 guests, both Armenian and non-Armenian, on the opening night of December 11, for this first presentation of Gorky’s oeuvre by an Armenian museum. The event also served as the museum’s annual members’ Christmas party.
This exhibition is the culmination of various programs in Watertown commemorating “100 Years of Arshile Gorky,” as the artist had lived in Watertown for about four years after arriving in the US in 1920. Curated by Dr. Kim S. Theriault, author of Rethinking Arshile Gorky (Penn State University Press, 2009), and designed by Ryann Casey, the show is sponsored by the JHM Charitable Foundation.
While there have been many exhibitions of Gorky’s art over the years, one unique aspect of the current show is precisely the emphasis on Gorky’s local connection as well as his interactions with family, friends and other artists through his art. Furthermore, many of the 26 items in the exhibition have not been displayed publicly before, as they belong to various private collectors. Loaning institutions include the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Housatonic Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery and the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America.
The exhibition starts with Gorky’s roots in his native Van. It displays a 15th-century illuminated manuscript, on loan from the Melikian collection, as an example of what the artist may have seen as a child, along with an embroidered outfit from 1915 which belonged to a child of Van (on loan from Adrienne Amirian) and early 20th century needle lace doilies (gifts of Vicki and Paul Bedoukian).
