Cosima Spender, Saskia Spender, Valerio Bonelli & D.W. Moffett on ‘Arshile Gorky. Horizon West’

Why It Matters

By unveiling new material and framing Gorky’s artistic evolution through a personal lens, the project revitalizes interest in a mid‑century master, potentially expanding his market presence and influencing modern curatorial practices.

Key Takeaways

• Horizon West blends unseen works with 1941 museum pieces.
• Film uses archival footage to recreate Gorky’s transformative Westward journey.
• Curators organized a semi‑chronological exhibit highlighting trip’s artistic impact.
• Family members emphasize personal narratives to deepen audience connection.
• Future plans aim for broader public exhibitions of Gorky’s work.

Summary

The evening event at Howard & Worth introduced “Horizon West,” a new documentary directed by Cosima Spender that pairs never‑before‑shown Arshile Gorky pieces with paintings from his 1941 solo show at the San Francisco Museum of Art. Hosted by the gallery’s marketing director and featuring a conversation with Gorky’s granddaughters, the program aimed to contextualize the artist’s pivotal Westward road trip and its influence on his oeuvre.

The film’s creators mined family archives, home interviews, and public records to craft a narrative that oscillates between past and present. By focusing on the 1941 journey, they highlighted a chronological thread: early ink works from the 1930s, mid‑career pieces directly linked to the trip, and post‑fire paintings that signal regeneration. Curator Claire Howard and the foundation deliberately selected works that illustrate Gorky’s evolving technique, from dense cross‑stitching to lighter, more luminous canvases.

Notable moments include the opening shot that zooms into Gorky’s recurring eye motif, a visual cue that ties his paintings to the film’s emotional core. Speakers referenced the “Mojave” painting, the influence of Miro and Picasso, and the resilience demonstrated after a studio fire in 1947. The discussion also revealed the painstaking process of gathering low‑resolution family footage, often recorded between breastfeeding sessions, underscoring the personal dedication behind the project.

The exhibition and documentary signal a renewed push to bring Gorky’s work to wider audiences. By blending scholarly curation with intimate family storytelling, the foundation hopes to demystify Gorky’s complex visual language and inspire future public shows, reinforcing his relevance in contemporary art discourse.

Original Description

On the occasion of ‘Arshile Gorky. Horizon West’ at our West Hollywood gallery, we hosted a screening of the new film, ‘Horizon West,’ followed by a talk with:

Saskia Spender, President of Arshile Gorky Foundation

Cosima Spender, Director of ‘Horizon West’

Valerio Bonelli, Editor of ‘Horizon West’

D.W. Moffett, Chair of SCAD and producer, actor and writer

The exhibition ‘Arshile Gorky. Horizon West’ presents a selection of Gorky’s landscapes from before and after his transcontinental trip in 1941 from New York NY to California CA, tracing the evolution of his incomparable approach to the genre. The exhibition features never-before-exhibited works alongside paintings from the artist’s first solo museum show in 1941 at the San Francisco Museum of Art (later SFMOMA), offering visitors a rare opportunity to examine the expansion of Gorky’s abstract landscapes in response to his first-hand experience of America’s terrain.

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Hauser & Wirth is an international contemporary and modern art gallery with spaces in Zurich, London, Somerset, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Gstaad, St. Moritz, Monaco, Menorca, Paris and Basel.

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