Micheal West
I first came upon the Paintings of Michael West about 15 Years ago , and immediately felt the energy of her work and thought why have I not seen her work before ? , but then its very typical and tragic that in the Art world many artist are forgotten and ignored in favour of other Artists and especially when it comes to Women Artists. It is really a tragedy that Artists like West have been sidelined by the Art world and have remained in Obscurity . With this Article compiled from numerous sources I hope will in some small way cast some light and make visible a fellow Artists work .
| These photos were from 1948 color photos owned by Michael West. THESE PAINTINGS ARE NOT AVAILABLE FOR SALE, BUT ARE SHOWN TO FAMILIARIZE YOU WITH HER HEROIC 40’S STYLE. The PHOTOS are the only living |
| record of her 1940s work. |
1940 micheal west
This very important decade shows the transition from Cubist abstraction to her highly-charged expressionist paintings which are quite unique. Michael West loved the work of the Spanish Cubist painter,Juan Gris. She has made copy and change paintings of Juan Gris subjects. However, Richard Pousette-Dart, a close friend, urged her to get rid of them. He also had similar beginnings – a lyrical cubist style. He was another important catalyst. She referred to him as the White Mystic, also the title of her poem to this spiritual artist.
Portrait of the Artist by Richard Pousette-Dart, 1945.
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Her style changed dramatically and her work was on a path not unlike Jackson Pollock’s. Bold, expressive and multi-layered. She too had an energy that I do not think can be compared to any other artist of the |
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period, man or woman! Richard Pousette-Dart realized the affect that Jackson Pollock’s ideas and work had on Michael West “I think you like his (Jackson Pollock’s) work better than mine!”. She did. She was actually on a very similar path to Jackson Pollock. Both had incredible energy which emanated from the canvas. The paintings were literally breathing. Not unlike alchemy, both Jackson Pollock and Michael West made “energy visible”. |
1940 micheal west
Man With Cello. 1946 (Peggy Guggenheim and Pollock saw and liked this work)
| It is important to understand the beginnings of the Abstract Expressionist Movement. The World War just ended. Many of the artists in NY had a great appreciation for Europe’s great innovators, Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso. Michael West wrote these words on Armistice Day, 1945, from her 5th Avenue studio. “As I write these words – a great parade of tanks and guns roar under my 5th Avenue window – the noise is |
| deafening – hysterical – as the planes soar over head the birds soar – fly wildly about – some below some above the planes in the sky – it is a grey, cloudy, |
| moody spring day – the feel of spring in the air is too soon – queer – it’s a Cezanne. This glorious roar – this beautiful abstract scene of people lined all along the curb – looking up – at these guns pointed toward the sky – is the new poetry the new art the new peace – which for a moment – is actually seen and heard – like a great love never dying – the triumph of active mysticism realized – for a moment – good surpasses evil. Good conquers even in this world. Evil is too slow – as usual.” Her words are chilling because she has brought me and hopefully you, to the core of life. This sums up the jubilance and ecstaticness that many artists felt just after the war! Artists are our most sensitive seers. So much can be learned from them. The artists that were to become the New York School had this feeling inside. All the ingredients for a rennaisance was in the pot. “Cezanne conceived things in movement rather than still, like the Old Masters did. He breaks down a space or breaks up a space rather than show the beauty of it”. I think this is the key to understanding the new movement that helped make NY the center of the art world. Hans Hofmann, possibly the greatest 20th Century art teacher – taught many of these new artists. If he wasn’t their teacher, many of the artists heard about his theories. Cezanne, Picasso and other European modernists, Hofmann, Gorky, Graham, the end of the war, the meteoric rise of Jackson Pollock, community, and what Michael West called “the new poetry” were all catalysts. “Pollock came on the scene like a meteor”. says Michael West, who was one of the very few who understood what he was doing and was influenced by his work . In fact, Jackson Pollock and Peggy Guggenheim (owned the famed Art of This Century Gallery) visited Michael West’s studio in the 40’s. They especially liked Man with Cello. Peggy Guggenheim said she would follow up with West’s work. (However, I don’t think she wanted someone working on a similar path to Pollock, in her stable.) The 1940’s was an important time in the beginnings of Abstract Expressionism or Action Painting. The next step from Surrealism or Abstraction was Abstract Expressionism. The first generation of this group, many of whom were painting in New York in the 30’s, were soon to become The New York School of Painters and Sculptors. “The New Art” as Michael West termed Lyrical Cubism, became |
| Abstract Expressionism, a logical progression. |
Untitled, 1949 / Mystic Energy,1946
Michael West’s 1950’s paintings from this decade are astonishingly different from the 1940’s and many are very different from her peers. In the 40’s she developed a style not unlike Pollock’s and Richard Pousette-Dart. At the end of the 40s decade and the very beginning of the 1950’s, her work was about matter and energy. She would use a thick overlay of paint, sand, etc. These historic works convey destruction, rebirth, and energy all at once. Much like a phoenix rising from the ashes after a civilization destroys itself. She actually would think like a physicist. She believed in stored energy in the paint forms. Her works are thus very “alive”. After 1951-52, her paintings became more linear and compositions were more like Hans Hofmann, but much more expressionist and cyclonic. “If Soutine is valid, then my painting is also valid” said Michael West referring to her mid 1950’s work. Please realize that she mostly abstracted from objects. A painting might just be a few things lying on a table – which turned into something else: A transformation into something universally felt, and also containing psyche from the subconscious. While some works may appear dark, they are actually the id coming to the surface. Michael West had a very positive view of life and was a practicing Buddhist. There are deep truths buried beneath the surface and appearing on the top of the surface. Her paintings are some of the most powerful expressions of the 20th Century. Summers were spent in Stonington, Ct. which is a seashore town on the border of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Yektai, the Iranian-American Abstract Expressionist also spent Summers in Stonington. While she and her husband were members of “The Club”, she preferred to spend Summers in the small Connecticut town, away from the hordes of artists who went to Provincetown. In New York City, West was invited to exhibit in the 1953 Stable Gallery Artist’s and Sculptor’s Annual. Then in 1957, she had a one-woman show on Madison Avenue. It has been said that she was the first to use staining – pre-dating Frankenthaler, Noland, and Morris Louis. Her paint application was very advanced
probably due to her early mentors; Gorky, Hofmann, and Pousette-Dart. Another major contribution was her 1940s work which were some of the mst powerful, deep and prophetic paintings ever created in America. While the 50s may seem wild and chaotic, they are controlled works with power and unlike many of the “fluff” abstract expressionists who never really risked that much. That is what it is all about – taking chances and risking, despite McCarthyism and other “scares” of the decade. Michael West was a true Poet/Painter.
Michael West in her Stonington studio with Black and White in background, c1953.
The Fabulous Fifties weren’t so fabulous. Civil Rights and equality were a dream, there was fear of the bomb, the Strom Thurmond fillibuster as well as the McCarthy witch hunts were just a few of the atrocities going on in America. The good news – artists were still
creating, and the Beats were making their mark in literature. The subjects of the artists were many. It was also the time of the important 9th Street show and the Artist’s Annuals. The camaraderie and community of Abstract Expressionists was quite important in this decade. They could have easily dispersed and dissipated in an America whose “average Joe” would shun this type of experimental and soulful work. As Michael West believed, good triumphs over evil.
| THE 1960’S – THE PERIOD OF |
| MAJOR POETICAL PAINTINGS Having a Michael West work from the 1960’s decade is like owning a piece of history. She has created |
| gestural works related to world events including the Viet Nam War and the Kennedy Assasination. She has |
created Homages to people who were important to her such as Hans Hofmann and Frank O’Hara. Michael West loved film and has made it an important part of her work. Many of her paintings are based on film such as Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, The Night of the Iguana, America America, Algeria, Chappaqua, and Z. These are large and quite prominent Abstract Expressionist works. Her love of the film medium is partly due to the fact that her ex-husband, Francis Lee, was a major avant-garde filmaker . Lee was a combat photographer in WWII and was reknown for his film of the Normandy invasion. He was also on staff of Robert Motherwell’s important publication of 1948, Possibilities. Francis Lee became an avant- garde filmaker whose works have been shown at MOMA and other film archives. He was a good friend of the exiled Surrealists and had the largest loft in Manhattan and hosted many parties for them while they were in NY City.
POETIC STRUCTURE DETAIL
POETIC STRUCTURE, 1960’S. 72″ X 48
Detail / VETERANS DAY (STUDY: FORM). 1962. Oil on Canvas. 83.5″ X 50″. (7′ 5″ X 4′)
Michael West and fellow artist Jerry Okimoto at West’s one-person show at the 57th Street Granite Galleries,1963.
Algeria, 1962. 50×64
Michael (Corinne) West. Snowstorm. 1974. Oil on canvas. 75’x 50″.
Portrait of Michael West (Corinne West), by Jon Boris, Cincinnati, 1930.
In 1936 Michael West made reference to “The New Art”, which was later to be more formally known as Abstract Expressionism. West’s work is experimental and differs in each decade, revealing her honest gift in the Abstract Expressionism movement. She has made an exceptional contribution as one of the early proponents of Abstract Expressionism or Action Painting through her artwork, poetry, and friendships with the many other early members of the New York School.
| Pen & ink of West by Arshile Gorky, c. 1936 (on page of 1934 Wadsworth Atheneum Picasso exhibition catalog) After the end of Arshile Gorky’s marriage to Marny George, Gorky met Corinne (birth name) West. West was attending Hans Hofmann’s first art classes at the Art Student’s League, NY, after he immigrated to America. The class monitor, Lorenzo Santillo was living in Gorky’s Union Square Studio and introduced Gorky to West. Michael West at first refused to meet another “maestro” – Hans Hofmann was all she could take. However, Santillo insisted. She made her way to Gorky’s Union Square Studio where she saw, pinned to the wall and positioned low, his masterpiece drawings, Nightime, Enigma, and Nostalgia. West thought to herself, “Memling done Abstract!” Michael West became the protégé and sweetheart of Arshile Gorky. All the intelligentsia was there that evening: the Janis’s, Schwabachers, Muschenheims, Guggenheims and the Metzger’s. Also two artists – Isamu Noguchi and Stuart Davis. Gorky seeing that she was uncomfortable, made her feel at ease with his charm. From then on they saw each other on and off for years. He also visited Corinne in Rochester where she maintained a studio (she would stay at both locations – her Greenwich Village apartment and Rochester studio). They were infatuated with each other and art. “The ‘eternal quality – art’ is all we are seeking – leave direction to the directors. This tremendous love of art is where our identities coincided. I came from a long line of Christian ministers – the family name was Westerman. Gorky came from a long line of Russian and Armenian priests. We |
| were both children of God – ingrained, hereditarily speaking. This tremendous sacred feeling for life – or overwhelming feeling (by some considered irrational) was in truth -hysterical holiness. We were humble poets seeking a sensible way to direct our |
energies. Behind these gigantic energies was a ‘time bomb’ or ‘total apathy’ – opposites, yes. Here was the battleground on which we were to fight out our lives. He, succeeded but was forced to take his own life – I dragged on thru countless grey halls – always ending up contemplating -the beauty of some particular object, in a state of ‘euphoric joy’.”
“Gorky said I had a quality in my work he hadn’t seen in anyone else. He also thought my name Corinne – sounded like a debutante’s daughter. We both decided on the name Mikael or Michael.” *From West’s 1977 Notes on Art notebook. Please refer to the new book, Arshile Gorky His Life and Work by Hayden Herrera (Author of Frida). There is a chapter titled Corinne, (Michael Corinne West) which explains their relationship in more detail.
The Notorious Gorky Love Letters
Fascinating, poignant love letters were written to Corinne while she was working at
her Rochester Studio. Arshile Gorky couldn’t bear to be without her! He visited her – and took the train to Rochester, NY to visit with West. They planned to marry but changed their minds at least 6 times. Thus there were many letters back and forth. Arshile sometimes used the exact phrases that he culled from the Surrealist writer/artist Andre Breton, the sculptor Gaudier Breszka, and others. After seeing her work he said, “Corinne, your work is like no other American painter.”
West in her studio with a black & white masterwork from 1947. Clement Greenberg, one of the main champions and critic of the Abstract Expressionist group particularly liked this work
CHRONOLOGY
| 1908 Corinne West(Michael West’s birth name)is born in Chicago Illinois, to William Porter West, Jr. and May Westerman. Her mother was the younger sister of the political cartoonist, Harry James Westerman. The painter Charles Burchfield was a relative on her father’s side. 1911 West family moves to Colombus, Ohio. William West is employed at the Iron Clay Brick Co. He becomes a well-known lecturer on the history of bricks. Corinne studies the piano. |
| 1925 Family moves to Cincinnati, Ohio. Corinne attends the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and the Cincinnati Art Academy. She is at this point a concert pianist and played complex pieces by composers like Rachmaninoff. She studies portraiture under John Weis and Frank Meyers. Her portrait in oils is painted by Myer Abel. |
| 1930 Also an actress, she played the role of Vivian in The Passing of the Third Floor Backat the then famous Cincinnati Actors Theater. 1931 West and Randolph Nelson, the actor who played the lead role in this play, wed. But their marriage soon ends in divorce. 1932 West moves to Greenwich, Ct., and then to 10th Street, and next to Bank Street in New York City. She attends the Traphagen School of Fashion. West decides to pursue her interest in painting and attends the historic Hans Hofmann class (1st)at the Art Student’s League. Mercedes Carles (Matter), Harry Holtzman, George McNeil, Lillian Olinsky (Kiesler), Burgoyne Diller, Betty Parsons, Louise Nevelson and Irene Rice-Pereira were some of her classmates. It is here that Hans Hofmann spreads his important theories on painting. 1933 Switches from the Hofmann class to Raphael Soyer’s class. “I have had enough of ‘maestros’.” While she learned some of the greatest art theories of the 20th Century, she believed it was too much of a cult. She felt she could work out her painting problems better with Raphael Soyer. In a recent article written by Raphael Soyer about his days at the Art Student’s League, he refers to Michael West as “too brilliant”. He was referring to some of his students who were very independent and who had original ideas. West also briefly studied with Kenneth Hayes Miller (Fall, 1934)at the Art Student’s League. 1934 Lorenzo Santillo, a class monitor, introduced West to Arshile Gorky. West and Gorky had an intimate relationship which lasted for years. Both artists had recent divorces and both were truly devoted to art. Arshile Gorky paints a portrait of West which is sold to Edmund Greacen, the director of the Grand Central School of Art where Gorky taught and lectured. 1935 Michael West exhibits at the 22nd Annual Exhibition of Rochester Artists held at the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery and receives critical acclaim for Portrait of Manuella. She and Gorky drive to Philadelphia (West’s father loans them his car)to go to his 1st one-man show at Boyer Galleries. 1936 Arshile Gorky seeks to continue his relationship with Michael West and sends the famous passionate letters which have been written about, first by Ethel Schwabacher in the first Gorky Monograph from 1957. Western Union telegrams are sent as well. This is the year that she is commissioned to create 14 mural panels for the Ballet Petrouchka. Gorky visits her in Rochester. West has her first one-woman show at The Rochester Arts Club where she shares a studio with the sculptress Fanny Benjamin. At her show, Michael West lectures about the “New Art” which is comprised of Hofmann’s theories, Picasso, Cubism, etc., to a standing room only crowd. She sold- |
| out all her drawings from this exhibit. She still maintains her Greenwich Village apartment and the studio in Rochester. She and Gorky decide on the name Mikael because Arshile thought Corinne sounded like a “debutante’s daughter”. |
| 1939 West exhibits an oil in The Rochester Memorial Art Gallery’s Fingerlakes Exhibition titled, Plastic Spatial Concept and continues to exhibit there yearly. She visits Gorky in NY and they go the World’s Fair. 1941 West changes the name Mikael to Michael. She is painting in a Cubist style much like Picasso and Juan Gris. She exhibits s pastel entitled Abstract Still Life in the Rochester Fingerlakes Exhibition, held at the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery . Gorky marries Agnes Magruder. 1942 Composes the poem The New Art. It is one of a series of 50 poems created through the 1940’s. She states that most of her poetry is about painting. 1943 Exhibits two drawings: Composition and Cubist Still Life in the Rochester Fingerlakes Exhibition. 1945 Meets Richard Pousette-Dart. They learn much from each other. He urges her to get rid of the “Juan Gris-Picasso style”. He photographs her at his Sutton Place Studio and she creates a poem about him titled, To a Great Mystic. Their friendship has a mutual interest in the mystical or spiritual aspect of artistic creation. At the end of this year, She develops an Abstract Expressionist painting style as loose and powerful as Jackson Pollock’s. She exhibits in a group show at Pinacotheca Gallery (owned by Rose Fried). Also in this show, are Rothko, Kaldis, Schnitzler, and other artists that would become part of the New York School of Painters. 1946 Jacson Pollock and Peggy Guggenheim visit Michael west at her studio. They probably saw her work at Pinacotheca Gallery and had to see more. Peggy said that she painted “life”. However, she didn’t follow up. Was there room for only one Jackson Pollock in her stable? Were the works too wild and expressive for a woman? They both loved the work: Man with a Cello 1948 West maintains her 1150 Fifth Avenue studio. In 1948, West married for a second time. Francis Lee was famous for his World War ll D-Day film and his interview with Picasso after the liberation of Paris. His photographs appeared in the avant- garde journal, Possibilities. He also interviewed Matisse for this important publication which was organized by Robert Motherwell, John Cage, and others. Francis Lee who was involved with many of the Surrealists, hosted parties and get-togethers at his New York City loft. This was a natural meeting place because he had the largest artis’s loft in the city. Francis Lee became known as an avant-garde filmmaker and had numerous shows at museums and film archives. West exhibits Transfiguration, Mystic Energy, and other oils of the 40’s at Rose Fried Gallery and sells a few. Used a pouring and palette knife technique which was not unlike Dubuffet and Pollock. Arshile Gorky tragically commits suicide on July 21st. |
| 1949 Nihilism was painted in this year which is akin to Jay DeFeo’s The Rose from the 1950’s. Like the Rose, it is exceedingly heavy. West used a mixture of oil, sand and |
| other debris and applied it with pouring, and used a palette knife as well. And, like DeFeo’s Rose, Nihilism explodes from the center outward. 1950 The 1950’s introduces a radical departure. The works become more linear and are characterized by intersecting lines and planes and extreme movement. Though the style has changed, the energy emitting from the canvas has not. Many of Michael West’s paintings are based on objects, that may just be on her studio table. A miraculous transformation takes place which elevates these everyday objects into form bristling with energy. 1951 West and Lee meet with Hans Hofmann at the Cedar Bar. They discuss Hofmann’s use of color. 1952 Meets with the master composer Edgar Varese and is thoroughly affected by Deserts his famous atonal work. Later paints a picture called Desert Sounds which is exhibited in 1957. 1953 West is invited to exhibit st the Painters and Sculptor’s Artist’s Annual of 1953. A Stable Gallery poster is issued with the names of all the participants. 1957 In November, West is given a one-woman show at the Uptown gallery. 31 paintings are shown. Visits with Claire Goll, the wife of Ivan Goll, a French Poet in the circle of Surrealists whom Francis Lee knew in Paris. Attends party at her friends, who are the founders of the avant-garde Living Theater, Judith Malina and Julien Beck. 1958 One woman show at the Domino Gallery in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. 1960 West and Francis Lee divorce. West’s work changes and there is a concentration with the center of the canvas. In this decade she works alot in a 4 foot x 5 foot canvas size. 1963 In December, West is given a one-woman show at Granite Gallery on 57th Street in NY City. 1966 In May, West is given a one-woman show at Dolly Carlson’s Imaginary Art on Madison Avenue in NY City. Many pieces sell. 1968 By this point in the 1960’s, West produced numerous canvases related to world events. In 1963, a strong gestural work was made relating to the Kennedy Assasination. She created a series of poem-paintings related to the Viet Nam war, also paints Homages to Hofmann, Frank O’Hara, and Gorky, all important people in her life. 1974 Her 1970’s work is characterized by an openness. She does a series of 75″ x 40″ |
| inch canvases related to the ‘square’. She wanted to see them installed together in an Educational Institution. The Galerie Mouffe in Paris sends contract for large one- woman show in 2 locations in Paris and which would then travel to Japan. However |
West is unable to pay the shipping costs and gallery fees.
1976 Exhibits at group show Gallerie International, NY City. She is then given a one- woman show. Suffers a stroke and has an aneurism of the stomach. Exhibits drawings at Finch College, NY City.
1978 Has three shows at WomanArt Gallery on 57th Street, NY City. Covarrubias purchases oil. Also exhibits in group show at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, NY City.
1979 Last show at WomanArt. Decides she just wants to paint – tired of exhibiting.
1980 The 80’s are characterized by paintings with white paint cryptic calligraphy as a last layer to the canvas. Despite her ill-health, West continues to paint.
1991 West dies in her NY City apartment/studio.
This is an excellent catalog of a show held in NY City. There is a very fine essay by possibly the greatest writer on art of the 20th Century, Dore Ashton. She knew Michael West and gives an interesting and accurate account of the painter-poet. This all color catalog (except for the cover, and another photo portrait of the artist)has become rare and desireable for collector’s. There are 22 color plates of some of the great paintings as well as her automatic paintings on paper.
West’s first exhibition after her death was held at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in 1996. This rare and important catalog is small but has 2 fine essays. One is by Patricia Richmond who did her Master’s Thesis on Michael West, and the other is by Chris McNamara one of the curators at the PK House. 16 pages with a listing of 16 early works (1948-1955), 4 poems and 6 illus.
GREENWICH VILLAGE AND OTHER POEMS AND ART BY MICHAEL WEST
This exquisitely crafted portfolio of West’s art and poetry has a sheet size of 11 x 14. The edition size is limited to only 25 examples. Housed in a portfolio clam box-style case consisting of blue endpapers. The box also has an actual bone tie reminiscent of the Japanese style. Images are in color using archival inks and printed on Magnani Pescia cream paper. The poetry text is printed separately on translucent Canson Satin papers, which are interleaved between the images. There are only 25 examples of this very limited edition presentation of some striking artwork and poetry. The cost is $450. + shipping. Shipping will be $10.00. (Prints are suitable for framing).
| EXHIBITION HISTORY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY |
| Selected Solo Exhibitions: 1935: Rochester Arts Club, Rochester, NY. 1957: Uptown Gallery, NY, NY. 1958: Domino Gallery, Georgetown, Washington D.C. 1963: Granite Gallery, NY, NY. 1966: Dolly Carlson’s Imaginary Art, NY, NY. 1976: Galerie Internationale, NY, NY. 1978: WomanArt Gallery, NY, NY. 1996: Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton, NY. 1999: 123 Watts Gallery, NY, NY. Selected Group Exhibitions: 1935, 1939, 1941, 1943: Rochester Memorial Art Gallery and Finger Lakes Exhibitions, NY. 1945: Pinacotheca (with Gottlieb, Kaldis, Rothko, Avery, and others), NY. 1948: Rose Fried Gallery, NY. 1953: Second “New York Painting and Sculpture Annual,” Stable Gallery, NY. 1976: “Bicentennial Exhibition,” Galerie Internationale, NY. 1978, 1979: WomanArt Gallery, Lincoln Center, NY. 1996: “Other Artists of the 50’s,” Kendall Campus Art Gallery Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, Florida. 2001: Second to None: Six Artists of the New York SchoolThomas McCormick Gallery,Chicago. 2005: Rapt in the New York School The Studio, Armonk, NY. 2007-2008: SUITCASE PAINTINGS SMALLSCALE ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM ITINERARY: Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA May 19 – July 22, 2007 Ball State University Museum of Art, Muncie, IN September 8 – December 2, 2007 Utah Museum of Fine Art, Salt Lake City, UT January 19 – March 29, 2008 Sydney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, New York, NY May 3 – June 4, 2008 Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC June 28 – August 24, 2008 Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, IL September 19 – October 26, 2008 Some literature on Michael West: Schwabacher, Ethel. Arshile Gorky. Macmillan Company for The Whitney Museum of American Art, 1957. pp.61-64. Uptown Gallery. Michael West Paintings. Uptown Gallery, NY, 1957. 4 page brochure with 1 page Clark Mills insert. Lists 31 paintings. Richmond and McNamara. Michael West, Painter-Poet. Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, NY, 1996. Ashton, Dore. Michael West, The Automatic Paintings. 123 Watts Gallery, NY, 1999. Snyder, Gary. Other Artists of the 50’s. Kendall Campus Art Gallery of the Miami-Dade Community College, Florida, 1996. Spender, Mathew. From A High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky. Knopf, NY, 1999. pp.130-137, 151, 153-156. Herskovic, Marika. New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists. NY School Press, 2000. Second to None: Six Artists of the New York SchoolThomas McCormick Gallery,Chicago, 2001. Suitcase Paintings: Small Scale Abstract Expressionism. Kingsley, April. (Travelling |
| Museum Show)Chicago, 2007. Abstract Expressionism Second to None 4. Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, 2007. |
Almost any major book on Arshile Gorky usually discusses Michael West because of
their historic relationship. For example, please see: Herrera, Hayden. Arshile Gorky His Life and Work. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. (The author of Frida). From A High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky. Spender, Mathew. Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 1999. Arshile Gorky. Schwabacher, Ethel. Macmillan for the Whitney Museum, NY, 1957. Arshile Gorky Levy, Julien. Harry Abrams, NY, 1966.
ADI NEWTON 