The Artists's Mother 1936

Curator: Arshile Gorky’s “The Artist's Mother,” created around 1936, stands as a poignant graphite and pencil drawing, currently residing here at the Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: What strikes me first is how tender the whole thing is, like a memory fading into soft focus. It has a wistful air that's just so heartbreaking, especially her eyes. Curator: The piece embodies a compelling exploration of Armenian identity against the backdrop of diaspora and the weight of history, shaped, of course, by the Armenian genocide. The figure emerges from the intersections of gender, generational trauma, and maternal bonds. Editor: I can see that! The composition feels so loaded. Her gaze feels steady but so sad and I get the generational trauma. It reminds me of portraits of my own ancestors, their eyes holding so much history that it sometimes feels as though they carry it all for everyone who is next. Curator: Gorky's treatment of his mother engages directly with histories of representation. Consider the aesthetic links to earlier Modernist movements as a starting point, how the artistic language becomes entangled with the socio-political conditions facing Armenians at that time. Editor: I'm definitely getting the socio-political charge—but the texture, oh man, the materiality itself—all those strokes of pencil create such a fragile, ethereal sense! Curator: Indeed, this work stands as a document and offers ways to reassess portraiture's capability to confront difficult realities of displaced people, a space to reflect upon historical forces. Editor: Absolutely, it makes me wonder, how do we, as children of diasporas carry not just the faces but the feelings of those that came before? It all lands for me so powerfully through his expert marks, the subtleties and the light, and those intense, mournful eyes.