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Lot Essay
The Guston Foundation confirms that this lot will be included in the future catalogue raisonné of the drawings of Philip Guston
Widely known for his iconic paintings, Philip Guston’s works on paper played a central and important role within his oeuvre. His continuous innovation with different artistic styles and techniques echoed the dynamic shift from Abstract Expressionism in the late 1960s to his signature iconography of boots, bare bulbs, and brooding cyclopes assembled in works such as Web (1975). The critic Dore Ashton noted, “The profusion of images [Guston] produced late in life can be compared to Picasso’s last, immense cycle of drawings in which all the motifs of his lifetime parade in a grand finale and add up to one large allegory” (D. Ashton, A Critical Survey of Philip Guston, Berkeley, 1990, p. 178).
Although his painting style evolved from the expressive strokes of early Abstract Expressionism to representational tableaus, the works on paper exhibit a remarkably consistent hand even though the subjects change drastically. Making art was an outlet for Guston, something that he needed to do to come to terms with his own history and the events happening in the world. Becoming fed up with the art world that had championed him and the other Abstract Expressionists, Guston remarked, “American art is a lie, a sham, a cover up for a poverty of spirit—a mask to mask the fear of revealing oneself. A lie to cover up how bad one can be.” (P. Guston, quoted in Philip Guston’s notebook, c. 1970 in Philip Guston: A Retrospective, exh. cat., London, Royal Academy, 2004, p. 54).
Widely known for his iconic paintings, Philip Guston’s works on paper played a central and important role within his oeuvre. His continuous innovation with different artistic styles and techniques echoed the dynamic shift from Abstract Expressionism in the late 1960s to his signature iconography of boots, bare bulbs, and brooding cyclopes assembled in works such as Web (1975). The critic Dore Ashton noted, “The profusion of images [Guston] produced late in life can be compared to Picasso’s last, immense cycle of drawings in which all the motifs of his lifetime parade in a grand finale and add up to one large allegory” (D. Ashton, A Critical Survey of Philip Guston, Berkeley, 1990, p. 178).
Although his painting style evolved from the expressive strokes of early Abstract Expressionism to representational tableaus, the works on paper exhibit a remarkably consistent hand even though the subjects change drastically. Making art was an outlet for Guston, something that he needed to do to come to terms with his own history and the events happening in the world. Becoming fed up with the art world that had championed him and the other Abstract Expressionists, Guston remarked, “American art is a lie, a sham, a cover up for a poverty of spirit—a mask to mask the fear of revealing oneself. A lie to cover up how bad one can be.” (P. Guston, quoted in Philip Guston’s notebook, c. 1970 in Philip Guston: A Retrospective, exh. cat., London, Royal Academy, 2004, p. 54).