Mannikin c. 1931

Arshile Gorky drew this image, Mannikin, with pencil on paper, and you can see his hand in it. It's all about mark-making, the freedom and the playfulness of it. The texture here is incredible, right? It's not just about what the image represents, but how it's made. Like look at the the upper right corner with that hatched grid; it seems to both create space, but also flatten it. And then there's the lower half of the work which has the most interesting smudges and lines. Are they accidental? Are they intentional? That sense of process reminds me of Picasso, who similarly saw art as an investigation rather than just a representation of something. What Gorky gives us is an openness. The work is not just a statement; it's an invitation.