Philip Guston
- Introduction
- Philip Guston ('ust' pronounced like "rust"), born Phillip Goldstein (June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980), was a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draughtsman. Early in his five decade career, muralist David Siquieros described him as one of "the most promising painters in either the US or Mexico," in reference to his antifascist fresco The Struggle Against Terror, which "includes the hooded figures that became a lifelong symbol of bigotry for the artist." "Guston worked in a number of artistic modes, from Renaissance-inspired figuration to formally accomplished abstraction," and is now regarded one of the "most important, powerful, and influential American painters of the last 100 years." He also frequently depicted racism, antisemitism, fascism and American identity, as well as, especially in his later most cartoonish and mocking work, the banality of evil. In 2013, Guston's painting To Fellini set an auction record at Christie's when it sold for $25.8 million.A founding figure in the mid-century New York School movement, which established New York as the new center of the global art world, Guston's work appeared in the famed Ninth Street Show and in the avant-garde art journal It is. A Magazine for Abstract Art. By the 1960s, Guston had renounced abstract expressionism, and helped pioneer a modified form of representational art known as neo-expressionism. "Calling American abstract art 'a lie' and 'a sham,' he pivoted to making paintings in a dark, figurative style, including satirical drawings of Richard Nixon" during the Vietnam War as well as several paintings of hooded Klansmen, which Guston explained this way: “They are self-portraits … I perceive myself as being behind the hood … The idea of evil fascinated me … I almost tried to imagine that I was living with the Klan.” The paintings of Klan figures were set to be part of an international retrospective sponsored by the National Gallery of Art; the Tate Modern; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2020, but in late September, the museums jointly postponed the exhibition until 2024 "until a time at which we think that the powerful message of social and racial justice that is at the center of Philip Guston's work can be more clearly interpreted.The announcement spurred an open letter, published online by the Brooklyn Rail, and signed by more than 2,000 artists. It criticizes the postponement, and the museums' lack of courage to display or attempt to interpret Guston's work, as well as the museums' own "history of prejudice." It calls Guston's KKK themes a timely catalyst for a "reckoning" with cultural and institutional white supremacy, and argues that's why the exhibition must proceed without delay. As of October 3, 2020, however, the earlier exhibition dates have not been reinstated.
- Wikidata
- Q701952
- Introduction
- He attended the Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles 1927-1928, followed by the Otis Art Institute, 1930. He was expelled from Otis after three months, but it was there that he began his friendship with Jackson Pollock. From this period on Guston was self-taught. After a figurative period, in the manner of Mexican mural artists, Guston became involved in the development of American Abstract Expressionism. In 1968 he made a radical return to figuration, waiting until 1970 to reveal this work publicly. These new cartoon-like works were not well-received when first shown, but have become highly regarded over time.
- Nationalities
- American, Canadian
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Engraver, Lithographer, Muralist, Painter
- Names
- Philip Guston, Phillip Goldstein
- Ulan
- 500023901
Exhibitions
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402: In and Around Harlem
Ongoing
MoMA
Collection gallery
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407: Frank O’Hara, Lunchtime Poet
Ongoing
MoMA
Collection gallery
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420: War Within, War Without
Ongoing
MoMA
Collection gallery
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Artist’s Choice: Amy Sillman—The Shape of Shape
Oct 21, 2019–Oct 4, 2020
MoMA
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The Long Run
Nov 11, 2017–May 5, 2019
MoMA
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Philip Guston has
53 exhibitionsonline.
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Philip Guston Book 1968
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Philip Guston City 1968
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Philip Guston Fix 1968
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Philip Guston Head 1968
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Philip Guston Untitled 1968
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Philip Guston Untitled 1968
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Philip Guston City Limits 1969
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Philip Guston Untitled 1969
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Philip Guston Discussion I 1969
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Philip Guston Edge of Town 1969
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Philip Guston The Street from Ten Lithographs by Ten Artists 1970, published 1971
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Various Artists, Jack Beal, James Brooks, Red Grooms, Chaim Gross, Philip Guston, Alex Katz, Richard Lindner, Robert Andrew Parker, Philip Pearlstein, Fairfield Porter Ten Lithographs by Ten Artists 1971
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Philip Guston Untitled (Rome, 1971) 1971
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Philip Guston Untitled (Waiting) 1972
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Philip Guston Painter in Bed 1973
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Philip Guston Four Heads 1974
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Philip Guston Lamp and Chair 1974
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Philip Guston In the Studio 1975
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Philip Guston Deluge II 1975
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Philip Guston Web 1975
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Philip Guston Cherries 1976
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Philip Guston Green Rug 1976
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Philip Guston Source 1976
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Philip Guston Head 1977
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Philip Guston Tomb 1978
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Philip Guston Box and Shadow 1978
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Philip Guston East Coker-Tse 1979
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Philip Guston Moon 1979
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Philip Guston Talking 1979
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Philip Guston Coat 1980
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Philip Guston Room 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Untitled 1980
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Philip Guston Agean 1980
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Philip Guston Curtain 1980, published 1981
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Philip Guston Door 1980, published 1981
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Philip Guston East Side 1980
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Philip Guston Sea 1979–80, published 1980
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Philip Guston Shoes 1980, published 1981
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