Musa Guston Mayer reflects on her father’s art and its legacy. Read more.

Musa Guston Mayer takes us into the studio of her father, the artist Philip Guston, reflecting on her relationship with him and the future of his legacy.

The Brooklyn Rail, “Philip Guston Now,” by Barry Schwabsky

The Brooklyn Rail, June 2023, “Reflections on Philip Guston Now” — Personal reflections from artists Dan Nadel, Michelle Segre, Joe Bradley, Archie Rand and Steve DiBenedetto

Forward, June 5, 2023, “How a Jewish ‘witness of hell’ navigated a landscape of American terror,” by Diane Cole

The Hudson Review, Spring 2023, “Philip Guston in Boston, Houston, and Washington,” by Karen Wilkin

Hyperallergic, June 28, 2023, “11 Art Books to Add to Your Reading List This Summer,” by Lakshmi Rivera Amin

New York, The Sun, May 29, 2023, “The Art World Recovers From Its Guston Derangement Syndrome,” by Mario Naves

by Phong Bui, The Brooklyn Rail, May 2023

Read full article here.

Phong Bui, Publisher and Artistic Director of The Brooklyn Rail, takes us on an intimate and detailed tour of the retrospective Philip Guston Now currently on view at the National Gallery of Art through August 27.  With a congratulatory nod to Harry Cooper, curator and head of modern and contemporary art at NGA, Bui commends the exhibition’s “intention to present the works without spoon-feeding or condescending to the viewers.”  

Bui writes of “disappointment and frustration upon hearing the news of the second postponement of [the] Philip Guston Now exhibition (the first due to COVID-19) because of a profound misunderstanding of what the paintings that are now being shown at the National Gallery of Art are really about. They are the paintings of a fearless truth teller…”

 “Guston’s self-conscious decision to question every possible realm of human existence is understandable. This includes not just spiritual, social, and political metaphors, but also of everyday events, routines that involve our relationship with things, and objects that are made to perform certain functions.”

The retrospective is “perfectly calibrated to each phase of the painter’s evolution” from 1930 to 1980.  “The result is a poetic redemption of everything that had derailed Guston’s own power of ‘negative capability’.“

(Philip Guston Now travels to the Tate Modern in London, October 5, 2023 – February 25, 2024.)

A selection of works from Musa Mayer’s gift will be on view in a special installation opening May 27, 2023. The display, which will focus on the artist’s deeply philosophical approach to the nature of artistic identity and the aesthetic possibilities of painting, will be organized by Kelly Baum, Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Curator of Contemporary Art in The Met’s Department of Modern and Contemporary Art. 

Read the full press release.

One year ago, the National Gallery of Art announced an updated schedule for the Philip Guston retrospective. All of the original museums have affirmed their continued involvement and enthusiasm to show the entire scope of Guston’s 50 year career. 

This major exhibition will be initiated at MFA Boston at the beginning of May—not so very long to wait! Here are all the dates: 

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, May 1, 2022 – September 11, 2022
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 23, 2022 – January 15, 2023
National Gallery of Art, Washington, February 26, 2023 – August 27, 2023
Tate Modern, October 3, 2023 – February 25, 2024

Fri 10 Sep 2021, 10 am – 4.30 pm
Livestreamed at hauserwirth.com

On the occasion of ‘Philip Guston, 1969-1979’ at Hauser & Wirth’s Chelsea gallery at 542 West 22nd Street, please join us for a special live streamed symposium to celebrate and discuss the work, life, and legacy of Philip Guston, one of the most significant painters of the twentieth century. 

The artistic liberation Guston maintained throughout his career in the face of criticism serves as inspiration for our symposium. To inspire discussion, the symposium brings together an influential group of academics, visual artists, and visionaries who will offer valuable insights throughout the day. 

Through a combination of panels, scholarly lectures, and individual artist responses, ‘Philip Guston: On Edge’ offers new analyses into the artist and his practice.

Read more →

Philip Guston, 1969-1979

Beginning 9 September 2021, Hauser & Wirth New York will present ‘Philip Guston, 1969-1979’, an exhibition focused on the breakthrough figuration that emerged in the final decade of the 20th century master’s career. Including paintings never before exhibited, this show brings together masterworks after Guston had turned his back on abstraction to assert an unprecedented new figuration. While the critics denounced his dramatic shift toward dark, cartoon-like imagery, the paintings of Guston’s last years are today considered milestones of modern art. These works display not only an exquisite technical mastery, but uncompromising courage in addressing directly the injustices of American society that he’d witnessed since boyhood. Made at the height of his artistic powers, the paintings on view attest to Guston’s enduring influence and astonishing relevance to artists and the general public now.

Including masterworks on loan from museums and private collections, ‘Philip Guston, 1969-1979’ will remain on view through 30 October at Hauser & Wirth’s West 22nd Street building in the Chelsea Arts district.

Read more →

Musa Mayer, President of The Guston Foundation spoke with Gareth Harris at The Arts Newspaper about her new book Philip Guston published by Laurence King.

“My small volume is intended as an affordable and concise introduction to the life and work of Philip Guston, with limited, although accurate, text and an abundance of high-quality images. The goal is to offer a sense of Guston’s whole life as it unfolded, as well as the full 50-year scope of his work.”

Read the interview →