Philip Guston

Philip Guston (Montreal, Canada, July 27, 1913 - Woodstock, N.Y., June 7, 1980) was a notable member of the New York School, which also numbered many of the Abstract Expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning, as well a painter that lead the transition from Modernism to Post-Modernism in painting. Born Philip Goldstein in Montreal, Canada, Guston, with his family, moved to Los Angeles as a child. He began painting at the age of 14, and in 1927 he enrolled in the Los Angeles Manual Arts High School where he, and Jackson Pollock, studied under John de St. Vrain Schwankovsky where they were introduced to Modern European art, oriental philosophy, theosophy and mystic literature. Apart from his high school education and a one-year scholarship at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, Guston remained, largely, a self-taught artist.

Related Topics:
Montreal, Canada - July 27 - 1913 - Woodstock, N.Y. - June 7 - 1980 - New York School - Abstract Expressionists - Jackson Pollock - Willem De Kooning

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In 1936, Guston moved to New York, and worked as an artist under the WPA scheme. During this period his work can be typified by strong references to Renaissance painters such as Paolo Uccello, Masaccio, and Giotto. These references can be found by his sometimes awkward, but always calculated, draughtsmanship of the figure. Influences of the American Regionalists and Mexican mural painters can also be found. During this period he accepts a teaching position at Washington University, St. Louis. He holds this position from 1945-1947.

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In the 1950s, Guston achieved success as a second-generation Abstract Expressionist. His paintings, done in a style he dubbed "Abstract Impressionism," generally consisted of one to several masses of color floating around the middle of the canvas.

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In the late 1960s, he became tired of the purity associated with abstraction and began painting representational subjects again, but in a cartoonish manner. When attacked about the impurity of his later paintings, he responded, "There is something ridiculous and miserly in the myth we inherit from abstract art. That painting is autonomous, pure and for itself, therefore we habitually analyze its ingredients and define its limits. But painting is 'impure'. It is the adjustment of 'impurities' which forces it coninuity. We are image-makers and image-ridden. There are no wiggly or straight lines..." In this body of work he creates a lexicon of images such as Klansmen, lightbulbs, shoes, interiors, and cyclopses. Guston is best known for these late existential and lugubrious paintings, which at the time of his death in 1980 reached a wide audience, and brought him to the attention of many painters, and many imitators.

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