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The first Arshile Gorky exhibition in Armenia closed on August 2, 2010 at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts. The closure was marked by special programming for public and the CCA community. For ten days before the end of the exhibition the admission to the Gorky hall was free, and a total of 1,000 people visited the Center to have another look at Gorky’s works. Free guided tours were given to visitors as requested. The Gorky decade ended by an event for the CCA community – “Arshile Gorky: Flame of Art” candlelight evening on August 1. During the evening the CCA members and invitees were given a tour of Arshile Gorky’s exhibition, enjoyed a classical performance by Ars Lunga duo and lit candles as a tribute to Arshile Gorky at an open-air reception. Gorky’s exhibition in Armenia opened in November 2009. Since then, it has been at the limelight of public attention, presenting 16 drawings and 7 paintings by the legend of American twentieth-century art. Arshile Gorky fled Western Armenia during the genocide of 1915 and witnessed the death of his mother from starvation. After living in Yerevan for a period of time, he arrived in the United States in 1920 at the age of fifteen. Arshile Gorky eventually became one of the most influential painters of the twentieth century, and just as his career was reaching new heights, his life ended tragically in suicide in 1948. The Gorky exhibition was one of many exhibitions commemorating the opening of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts: a fitting tribute to a man whose death 60 years ago has been marked by major exhibitions of his work in museums throughout the world, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and London’s Tate Modern. “This was a most elegant way to mark Arshile Gorky’s exhibition closure and to pay tribute to the great artist”, A CCA member
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