Scholars on Gorky agree that suffering and loss he experienced during the Armenian Genocide strongly informed the production of his modernist paintings in America . Comparisons of Gorky ’s '' The Plough and the Song '' ( 1946-7 ) with works of his contemporaries in the field of organic biomorphic abstraction reveal the stark manifestation of his experiences of brutality and horror . Gorky appears to have systematically developed the imagery of the canvas such that many of his biomorphic forms appear to be “ bleeding , ” alluding to the horrors and violence he witnessed during the Armenian Genocide . He depicts red far more fluidly , yet systematically . Several of his forms appear to be “ bleeding , ” given the semblance of a trail of blood that streams down from the inflicted “ wounds ” on the biomorphic forms . Gorky makes liberal use of shading to deliberately draw attention to the fact that these ebbing blots and streams of red are , in fact , bleeding wounds . Yet , the ironic truth in the way Gorky seems to weld his nostalgia for Armenian culture and rich heritage with the violent history of genocide in a single compositional frame ultimately reflects many Armenians ’ own views of their fractured history . There exists a constant dialectic of culture and barbarism in the history of Armenians , where violence persists a theme as constant as the beauty of its culture and its people
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide in culture