Guston created Gladiators in a style that merged Renaissance figure painting with what he called “cubist conceptions of space.” While working on Gladiators, Guston was also painting murals in New York as a part of a Works Progress Administration program. The theme of fighting children seen here is adapted from Work and Play, a mural the artist completed in the lobby of the Queensbridge housing project in Long Island City, Queens, in 1940. Soon thereafter, Guston transitioned away from murals to the easel painting and abstract works for which he would later gain prominence.
Gallery label from 2021
