ARSHILE GORKY´S LETTERS PUBLISHED IN ARMENIAN

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS: A collection of letters written by Arshile Gorky in Armenian was released in Yerevan. The book contains some 40 letters in Armenian and their English translations.
Gorky was born Vosdanik Adoian in 1904 in Khorkom, Western Armenia (now in Turkey). The artist’s childhood was marked by poignant suffering and tragedy caused by the massacres of Armenians at the order of then Turkish government. Gorky’s father fled to America in search of a new life for his family. During this difficult time Gorky witnessed the death of his mother by starvation. In 1915, Gorky escaped Turkish massacres with thousands of others refugees. After his mother died of famine, he headed for the US.
His whole life in the new country, which ended in suicide, consisted of years of hard work and bitter struggle. Tragically enough, the years in which his art was ascending to its greatest heights were also the darkest in his life. His marriage was disintegrating; he was operated on for colon cancer, and he lost many works in a studio fire. The letters, full of nostalgia for his native home, sufferings he experienced on his road to the USA are addressed to his sister Varduhi. They were first published by Varduhi’s son- Karlen Muradian-in English. They were also published in Portuguese by Gyulbenkian Foundation.