The Armenian Museum of America in Watertown has extended the exhibition “Arshile Gorky: Redrawing Community and Connections” through September 27 due to overwhelming interest and positive reviews from publications including Boston Art Review and Artscope magazine. Curated by Kim S. Theriault and sponsored by the JHM Charitable Foundation, the show brings together works from private collectors and institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Housatonic Museum of Art, and Yale University Art Gallery, and was highlighted as a top pick by the Boston Globe and GBH Arts Editor Jared Bowen.
This extension matters because it marks the first time an Armenian museum has hosted an exhibition of Arshile Gorky’s work, situating the artist—a survivor of the Armenian Genocide who settled in Watertown—as a progenitor of Abstract Expressionism. By tracing his artistic development alongside his personal history and featuring generous loans from the Armenian diaspora, the exhibition underscores how Gorky’s legacy has been sustained not only by institutions but by individuals who chose to steward his place in art history, offering a fresh lens on resilience and belonging.