Talk:Arshile Gorky

Name?
Was his firstname Vosdanig, Vosdanik or Vostanik? This page differs from the external links' versions given. If the transliteration of his name is undecided, this should be mentioned.Malick78 17:24, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Vosdanig is Western Armenian. Vosdanik is a hybrid form and Vostanik is Eastern Armenian. Because he was a Western Armenian one would assume that he himself would transliterate the name as Vosdanig.--  Ευπάτωρ   Talk!! 03:53, 7 October 2007 (UTC)
 * But the Van dialect is eastern Armenian, isn't it? Meowy 14:34, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Fake letter claim needs documentation
"In English translations of letters allegedly written by Gorky in Armenian to his sisters he often described moods of melancholy, and expressed loneliness and emptiness, nostalgia for his country, and bitterly and vividly recalled the circumstances of his mother's death. Most of these translations (especially those expressing nationalistic sentiments or imparting specific meanings to his paintings) are now considered to be fakes produced by Karlen Mooradian (a nephew of Gorky) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Unfortunately, the contents of the fake letters heavily influenced the authors of books written about Gorky and his art during the 1970s and 80s."

Says who? I believe that this might be true but would like to know the source

Thanks PaulGrant3 (talk) 05:47, 22 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Says me! I added that text, but others have said (or implied) it too - so it isn't original research. Every individual point has its source. For example, on the fake letters, and why they are certainly fake, see: Nouritza Matossian. Black Angel, A Life of Arshile Gorky. London, 1998. To see excerpts from them extensively used to impart specific meanings to Gorky's paintings see the article by Spender in: Diane Waldman, Arshile Gorky, 1904-1948, A Retrospective, New York, 1981. Spender, without admitting he was the one fooled, later recanted and wrote, quote: "translations of Gorky’s letters are untrustworthy. I suggest ignoring his versions whenever he makes Gorky discuss art (Mathew Spender, From A High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky. Berkeley, 2000, page 377). I can't remember now if the words I have used to summarise the essense of the fake letters are my own, or if I was quoting the actual words and phrases used by Spender in his 1981 essay to describe their contents. Meowy 14:24, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oops. Looking back I see that actually most of the sentence that describes the character of the letters was not written by me, but by another editor working on the article before me. So I don't know the source, but the sentence does correctly sum up the content of the fake letters. Meowy 21:51, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Oops reprised. It was me who wrote most of it! http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arshile_Gorky&action=historysubmit&diff=80227851&oldid=79548050 Meowy 22:38, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
 * BTW, the letters were faked because Mouradian wanted to make Gorky's work, inspirations, and lifestyle appear to be more "Armenian" than they acutally were. In the late 60s and early 70s Mouradian published in several articles in Armenian periodicals what purported to be English translations of letters originally written in Armenian by Gorky, however no such Armenian originals have ever been discovered. Meowy 14:31, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Article was citing a source that got its content from Wikipedia
I've removed the Charles Moffat reference for the text "In later years Gorky was vague about even the date of his birth, changing it from year to year" because Moffat has lifted those words directly from this Wikipedia article. Moffat's article is dated Dec 2007, but that particular text was in the article long before that date and was actually written by me. Meowy 20:43, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Arshile Gorky in fiction
Armenian writer Sarkis Vahaken Has written a noval called "Arshile Gorky" published in armenian, in 2004, Los Angeles. Սարգիս Վահագնը հրատարակած է «Արշիլ Կորքի» իր վէպը, 2004ին, Լոս Անճելըս: —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.123.152.236 (talk) 19:27, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

Birthplace
Just about everything I read, including the current text of this article, refers to him as "Armenian born." But this makes me wonder--if he was born on the shores of Lake Van, he couldn't have been born within the borders of the modern nation of Armenia; and since there was no nation called Armenia when he was born, it isn't clear what else it would mean to call him "Armenian born." I understand that calling him "Turkish born" is much more problematic, and I don't have a solution to propose. I just wanted to point out that calling him "Armenian born" is a bit strange. Any thoughts?Bws2002 (talk) 04:31, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

I have a suggestion. Why don't we say he was born in Armenia that was and continues to be occupied by Ottoman Turks? I don't think that would be problematic as it continues to be the case today. Monte Melkonian (talk) 21:49, 3 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Currently it says he was born in Van, in the Ottoman Empire, formerly Armenia. Then there was the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and many other articles confirming Armenians living in Van...Modernist (talk) 11:43, 28 March 2023 (UTC)

Portrait of Master Bill
The text indicates that the portrait is not of de Kooning, but the figure caption states it is of de Kooning. Correction or clarification is needed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.207.221.35 (talk) 02:20, 20 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Good catch, fixed now, although there are contradictory accounts...Modernist (talk) 02:54, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

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