Gorky Family Speaks Out on Burying Artist's Remains in Armenia

GLENDALE, CA—Arshile Gorky’s descendants recently responded to reports that the Yerevan-based Arshile Gorky Foundation has undertaken fundraising efforts to transport and bury the remains of the famous abstract expressionist painter in Armenia. A survivor of the Armenian Genocide, Gorky committed suicide in 1948 at the age of 44, and was buried in a cemetery near his studio in Sherman, CT.

Gorky Foundation chairman Badal Badalian announced on May 19 that his organization had undertaken fundraising efforts and “is requesting permission” to carry out Gorky’s dream to “to return home and to be one with the soil of Armenia.”

Gorky’s son-in-law, Italy-based writer Matthew Spender, announced that the move to transfer Gorky’s remains to Armenia “eventually requires the permission of Gorky’s descendants,” including Gorky’s daughter, Spender’s wife Maro.

“I’d like to place on record the fact that neither she, nor her mother or sister, have been informed of the plan, and that they are against the idea. Gorky’s resting place in Connecticut is final,” emphasized Spender, who wrote the 1999 biography From a High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky.

In response to a follow-up inquiry from our sister publication Asbarez, Spender explained that although the chances of transferring Gorky’s remains to Armenia are small, the Gorky family would review a formal request. The family was stunned in May by the announcement that “efforts were underway” to transport and bury the remains of the artist in Armenia.

In a June 23 letter, Spender explained that a similar attempt had been made many years ago by Gorky’s nephew, Karlen Mooradian, but was rejected by the family. “The confidence with which the present group has been raising money for the scheme has also created a bad impression, as you can imagine,” Spender told Asbarez. “But it is only fair to give the proposal a hearing.”

Addressing the point of Gorky’s remains being at one with the soil of Armenia, Spender explained that Gorky’s relationship to Armenia is unclear. “Vartoosh and her husband returned there in 1935 and had a terrible time. It was only with difficulty that Gorky, through a US relief agency—to which he remained eternally grateful—was able to bring them back to the United States,” he explained. In fact, Spender says that Gorky never really mentioned the Republic of Armenia, except in one letter in which he “seemed diffident” about it.

“Regarding what one might guess to have been his feeling on the subject, it would make more sense to transfer his remains to Van than to Armenia. But that, of course, is out of the question,” concluded Spender.