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Karakashian: In Search of Gorky’s Grave
On a clear autumn day, my cousins and I proceeded north toward Sherman, Conn. The 75-minutes’ drive was pleasant on the scenic country roads. In Sherman, we couldn’t find any souvenirs of Arshile Gorky. Gorky was not commercialized here.
Our intention was to find his grave and learn of his story. As an Armenian, I knew some things about Gorky, following a wonderful presentation by art expert, Mrs. Knarig Akiskal and her psychiatrist husband, Hagop Akiskal (a psychiatric analysis o
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Vartoosh insisted it was NOT suicide. She, her husband Moira’s, and young Karlen were driving out from Chicago to see him. They had stopped in Long Island to see friends when the learned of his death. Gorky knew they were on their way. Vattoosh was certain he did not kill himself.
What was Vartoosh’s belief about the cause of Gorky’s death?
What an incredibly beautiful and detailed story about one of the most talented Armenians of the 20th century. Thank you for writing such a well researched and lovely piece and for discovering Gorky’s gravesite.
Thank you for sharing a fascinating story
Hi Arpi, I find your comment interesting. Can you name the source where Vartoush states her belief that Gorki did not commit suicide? All the sources I consulted state otherwise. Thanks! Meline’
My opera GORKY’S DREAM GARDEN—now in production for premieres in Yerevan and New York City—will also address Gorky’s death. But, like Arpi who writes above, I am focusing on the bright side of the man during his closing moments. Why dwell now on the suicide issue and make him look like a defeated sad sack? Is that what we want him to be remembered for? He was a dreamer and a courageous and visionary hero for all Armenians, survivors and creative thinkers. And so, with this spoiler alert to the opera’s glorious Grand Finale, he will be posed–not to be hovering around a noose on a lonely hot summer night—but to go out with grace and dignity through the power of his homeland remembrances of brighter times. The tragedy of suicide (and the other dark word ending in “ide:” genocide) will be felt even more strongly in view of the artistic quest for a cathartic and transcendent release. In the preliminary website linked here, you can hear the show’s audio trailer at the LISTEN chapter and some other excerpts: http://www.gorkysdreamgarden.org/
I was standing in front of a painting of his 2004 in Barcelona and fell in love with it. had never heard of him before. I stumbled upon a used paperback copy by his galerist Levitt and got pulled into his live and his work. Who cannot think of van Gogh, almost forced to make the association.
Meliné took this trip to Sherman(I think) because of the ethnic kinship, that is wonderful, its part of our human DNA, it draws us all the way out to a gravesite somewhere, far away.
What gives? She is rightfully proud of a great fellow Armenian, who happened to touch my heart deeply 16 years ago and gave me the urge to thank her for her sweet labour of love a few years back.
Thank you for this well-researched piece. I am Arshile’s 1st cousin, 2x removed— Arshile’s father Setrag, was uncle to my Grandmother Lucy Adoian. Her father was Kirkor. He was supposed to immigrate to the States w/Arshile’s father, but did not survive. I am searching for info on Kirkor Adoian. Any help so very much appreciated.
As interesting as all the new info about Gorky’s life, stated in new research, it does not go to the heart of his problem, when he found his upbringing in Christian Armenian culture, when the Parisian Surrealists emigrated to America, engaging in their new morality of wife-swapping, completely alienating Gorky, with his wife having an affair with Roberto Matta. See Lionel Abel’s memoir which Nouritza Matiossian discovered, closing the mystery of his death finally in her biography BLACK ANGEL: Life of Gorky, 2000.
PS: This is a Postscript from Harold Kulungian: There is a very fascinating photograph, I seem to recall, in Julian Levy’s large art book published by Abrams, a photo taken in NYC not long after the Parisian school of Surrealists had fled Hitler’s conquest of Paris in June 1940. The photo is of the banquet room just after the partying had ended, and apparently the photographer had asked the banqueters to line up against the wall for a group photo. The Surrealist are shown in good spirits lined up together. Arshile Gorky is shown isolated from the group, with downcast face, looking very worried with second thoughts, doubtless his Christian feelings that he cannot relate to the way of life of the Surrealists’ morality that is already threatening to make catastrophic inroads on his traditional Christian family life. Can anyone imagine a more destructive clash of cultures than Gorky’s Orthodox Christianity up against the no-holds barred “Anything goes” atheistic immorality already well-established among the Surrealists, with its routine wife-swapping threatening his marriage? That post-Christian way of life required the better part of a century, since that 1940 photo was taken, to become acceptable behavior in the USA as well. -Harold Kulungian
PPS: The best and most fascinating first-hand account of Gorky’s last days and death is by Lionel Abel, (available online) in a 1981 lengthy account in COMMENTARY magazine, entitled “Among the Surrealists in New York”. The portion devoted to Gorky he saved until the very end because it meant so much “to give the whole story”. It is an account of the dramatic happenings, including a violent encounter with Roberto Matta in Central Parky where Gorky chased the man to beat him with a cane, in his humiliated condition, from Matta having had an affair with Gorky’s wife. That was the proverbial last straw. Gorky then telephoned friends announcing his intention to take his own life, to end his physical and spiritual devastation, and proceeded to hang himself. This personal memoir is a gripping and unforgettable read!