Untitled, 1968
Acrylic on panel, 16 1/2 x 19 1/2 in. (41.9 x 49.5 cm)
Bequest from the Estate of Musa Guston
1992.85.2
Philip Guston was first recognized as one of America's foremost artists for the abstract paintings he began to make in the early 1950s. Throughout his career, Guston carried out his artistic inquiry across abstract and figurative traditions. Untitled was made during his return to figuration in the late 1960s, when he developed a vocabulary of elemental images, including body parts, studio tools, and household items, which he would revisit and reintegrate into his compositions. The book exemplifies the clumsy outlining and heavy impasto typical of these cartoon-icons. Isolated, abject, and often rendered in a sordid palette, these characters engage the viewer's thoughtful meditation on experiences and emotions through their evoked associations.
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