Vosdanig Manoog Adoian, better known as Ashile
Gorky, was born in Armenia in 1904. His family left the country during the
genocide (1915) and mass dispersion (in 1919, in which his mother died of
starvation) of Armenians during WWI. He came to the United Stated in 1920 where
his father had emigrated in 1910 and where he attended both the New School of
Design in Boston (1922). He later moved to New York City (1925). Although he
started as an Impressionist, he became fascinated with Cubism and eventually
moved into Surrealism. In 1948, after a series of personal tragedies - his
studio burned down; he was diagnosed with throat cancer; an auto accident
paralyzed his right arm and his wife left him - he hanged himself.
