Rite

Philip GustonWW-1958-137391

1958·Oil on canvas·121.9 × 162.6 cm (48 × 64 in.)

<p>In the 1930s, Philip Guston was involved with the mural movement and the work of Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera. On his arrival in New York in 1935–36, he joined the group of artists working for the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Arts Project. He spent the years after World War II developing a personal style that was inspired by both realist and abstract influences. By the early 1950s, he left representational imagery behind entirely, developing a lyrical Abstract Expressionist style that is typified by <em>Rite</em>. His paintings of this period largely consist of irregular blocks of gestural strokes and marks of color floating within the picture plane, often grouped toward the center of the composition. Guston’s most radical shift came in the late 1960s, when he confounded the art world with a new figurative style in which he used blunt cartoon shapes to create a personal iconography.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1958
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 121.9 × 162.6 cm (48 × 64 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Philip Guston

Artist

Philip Guston

Painting

Philip Guston, born in Montreal, Canada, in 1913, was the son of Russian Jews who immigrated to America to escape persecution. In 1919, the family moved to Los Angeles, but hardship pursued the family; poor professional prospects for Guston’s father coupled with racism, specifically related to the rise of the Klu Klux Klan, led to tenuous financial security. These early difficulties, compounded by his father’s suicide when he was seven, left an indelible mark on the artist. He began work on his first paintings at age 14, and in 1927 he was enrolled at Manual Arts High School in Los Angles (where he later met and befriended Jackson Pollock). While there, he studied Cubism as well as mysticism, and in 1930 received a scholarship to attend Otis Art Institute—the following year he had is first solo exhibition.

Montreal, QC, Canada

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