Philip Guston
June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980
Born in Montreal, Canada
Family migrated to America from Russia to escape persecution and find opportunity. He was the youngest of seven children and Jewish.
Abstract Expressionist painter
Emerged as social realist mural painter, later developed the style of cartoon realism
Similar time as Pollock and Kline, but Guston didn’t utilize such chance, organic gestures to paint
Guston was deeply influenced by his father’s suicide by hanging, which he discovered as a boy
He was also influenced by the anti-Jewish violence carried out by the Ku Klux Klan in California during the 1930s where he grew up
Edge of Town, 1969, Oil on canvas
This painting is interesting to me because it’s very appealing and mysterious, but upon further analysis you notice that these are two hooded Klansmen shown in a not necessarily positive or negative light. It makes me wonder how such intense hate and evil is able to blend into society and be accepted without people even knowing.
