re seen by Seitz (p. 13) as largely imitative and sometimes bad, as is the case with 1928Æs Composition and 1929Æs Still Life, both of which reference Cubism and show relatively little originality. However, in Still Life, the abstraction has begun to take over from the representational skin of Cubism. The surface is thick with repeated over-paintings and revisions, but the orchestration of geometric and biomorphic shapes in saturated tones of blue, red, black, tan, and beige is successful.
As he matured, Harold Rosenberg (p. 13) asserts that Gorky developed his own style which is ôalmost a visual metaphor of the digestion of European painting on this side of the Atlantic and its conversion into a new substance.ö As the 1930s unfolded, GorkyÆs style became more unique and less dependent upon Cubist construction.
Rand (2, p. 61) believes that Gorky suppressed his own attempts at style until he felt he had mastered the long heritage of Western painting. He believed that one ought to visualize paintin
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