RAPHAEL

Arshile Gorky's copy of this curiously misprinted edition of De Jacz's monograph of Raphael. All but two of the text pages have been bound in as blanks, which Gorky has then repurposed as a sketchbook. The seven tipped in colour plates and 55 black and white plates of paintings by Raphael are present as published. In good only condition, the binding somewhat worn and frayed, the spine hanging off in places. The contents have the ownership signature of Archile Gorky in ink to the upper left corner of the front pastedown, eight pages of sketches in pencil or ink to the pastedowns or blanks, one further inscription in ink and some finger marks here and there.

A remarkable object from the Armenian-American painter who had a seminal influence on Abstract Expressionism. Along with Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, Gorky has been hailed as one of the most powerful American painters of the twentieth century. In 1937, the year of this volume's publication, the Whitney Museum of Modern Art purchased its first Gorky painting (the artist's first to enter any museum collection). He would eventually see his works in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Joseph H. Hirshhorn, and Peggy Guggenheim. Provenance: Arshile Gorky; Agnes Magruder (Mougouch Fielding); given to Karsten Schubert; bequeathed to Norwich University (to be sold); acquired by Lucius Books.