Philip Guston

Abstraction. Philip Guston began his career as a painter for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the government-supported program that helped support arts and culture during the Depression years. Guston's contributions to public art during these years reflected his knowledge of Renaissance figurative painting and his interest in socially realistic subject matter. Today Guston is renowned for the highly original figurative art he created later in his career. However, he made a surprising and brilliant detour into abstraction during the 1950s. Long attracted to European painting of the 16th - 17th centuries, it was during a visit to Italy in the late 1940s that he immersed himself in the painterly work of the Baroque period. Studying its celebration of color, gesture, and movement, Guston felt that he could finally reconcile his interest in recognizable form with his impulse toward pure expression. Although we don't know for sure if Guston studied the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens, such as the one installed on the opposite wall, he most likely saw the European master's work while traveling in Europe. The similarities of color and structure between the Guston and Rubens paintings on view here are striking, as is their shared emphasis on movement, sensuality, and metamorphosis.

Bronze https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1354/

Gift of Edward R. Broida

Edge of Town http://www.moma.org/collection/works/100250

date inscribed Presented by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, courtesy of a private collector 1996

Scene http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guston-scene-p11411

Gift of Edward R. Broida

Deluge II http://www.moma.org/collection/works/100253

Gift of Edward R. Broida

Head http://www.moma.org/collection/works/100274

Gift of Edward R. Broida

Summer http://www.moma.org/collection/works/100260

Gift of Musa Guston

North http://www.moma.org/collection/works/79545

Gift of Edward R. Broida

Fix http://www.moma.org/collection/works/100249

date inscribed Presented by David and Renée McKee through the American Federation of Arts 1984

Rug http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guston-rug-p11074

Gift of The Museum of Modern Art Department of Publications

In-text plate (folio 66 recto) from In Memory of My Feelings http://www.moma.org/collection/works/11187

date inscribed Presented by David and Renée McKee through the American Federation of Arts 1984

Car http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guston-car-p11077

Gift of Kleiner, Bell & Co.

Untitled http://www.moma.org/collection/works/75638

Gift of Edward R. Broida

City http://www.moma.org/collection/works/100269

Car

Car https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/112105

Musa Guston Bequest

Head http://www.moma.org/collection/works/79122

Untitled (Book)

Untitled (Book) https://www.wikiart.org/en/philip-guston/untitled-book

Untitled https://www.wikiart.org/en/philip-guston/untitled-4

Group I

Group I https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/17357/

Gift of Musa and Tom Mayer

Untitled (Waiting) http://www.moma.org/collection/works/82565

date inscribed Presented by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, courtesy of a private collector 1996

Untitled http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guston-untitled-p11405

Allegory

Allegory https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/17358/

Gift of The Museum of Modern Art Department of Publications

In-text plate (folio 68 recto) from In Memory of My Feelings http://www.moma.org/collection/works/11188

Box Tree, Rome

Box Tree, Rome https://www.wikiart.org/en/philip-guston/box-tree-rome

Untitled https://www.wikiart.org/en/philip-guston/untitled-7

date inscribed Presented by the family of Frederick Elias in his memory through the American Federation of Arts 1987

Cornered http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guston-cornered-t04885

Red Painting

Red Painting https://www.wikiart.org/en/philip-guston/red-painting-1950

Line

Line https://www.wikiart.org/en/philip-guston/line

In the 1930s, Philip Guston was involved with the mural movement and the work of Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera. On his arrival in New York in 1935–36, he joined the group of artists working for the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Arts Project. He spent the years after World War II developing a personal style that was inspired by both realist and abstract influences. By the early 1950s, he left representational imagery behind entirely, developing a lyrical Abstract Expressionist style that is typified by Rite. His paintings of this period largely consist of irregular blocks of gestural strokes and marks of color floating within the picture plane, often grouped toward the center of the composition. Guston’s most radical shift came in the late 1960s, when he confounded the art world with a new figurative style in which he used blunt cartoon shapes to create a personal iconography. Gift of Society for Contemporary American Art in memory of Beulah Zachary

Rite https://www.artic.edu/artworks/9524/

Gift of Musa Guston

City Limits http://www.moma.org/collection/works/79541

Bequest of the artist

Red Painting http://www.moma.org/collection/works/79657