Mannikin c. 1931

Arshile Gorky made this drawing, “Mannikin,” sometime in the mid-1940s, using pencil and graphite on paper. Just looking at it, you can tell the hand was at play here, feeling its way through darks and lights, hatching and cross-hatching. The whole thing shifts and shimmers; the image emerges through trial, error, and intuition. I feel like he’s pulling this thing from the depths, coaxing it to life. What was he thinking? What did he want this character to be? Was it a portrait of an object, a person, or an idea? The marks and the lines are really what’s holding it all together. You can see him thinking, almost touch his touch. Those subtle lines aren’t fixed or definite. They create multiple interpretations and meanings. I feel like Gorky is in conversation with Picasso and other artists across time. Each inspires the other’s creativity. He is feeling the power of abstraction, but not quite there yet.