Arshile Gorky: The Eye-Spring

‘The eye spring...’ André Breton once said of his friend, ‘Gorky is for me the first painter to whom this secret has been completely revealed.’

A seminal figure in the shift to abstraction that transformed twentieth-century American art, this documentary provides an introduction to the career, influence and powerful visual language of Arshile Gorky (1904 – 1948). This film features Harry Cooper, Senior Curator and Head of Modern Art at National Gallery of Art, Washington; Maro Gorky, daughter of the artist; Gorky’s widow, Agnes Magruder (later Agnes Gorky Fielding); and Matthew Spender, editor of ‘Arshile Gorky: The Plow and the Song’.

‘The Eye-Spring’ is directed by Gorky’s granddaughter Cosima Spender, and was first screened alongside last year’s retrospective exhibition at Ca’ Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice. Presenting over eighty paintings and works on paper, ‘Arshile Gorky, 1904–1948’ was the first Italian museum survey dedicated to the artist, shedding light on the Gorky’s early artistic dialogue with Cézanne and his later influence on abstract expressionism.

Arshile Gorky: The Eye-Spring
2019, 20 min
Directed by Cosima Spender
Edited by Valerio Bonelli
Produced by Peacock Pictures
Courtesy The Arshile Gorky Foundation