In 1951, Guston forced himself to paint an entire picture without once stepping back to view the work as a whole. He saw this as a breakthrough to a new, calligraphic style. This drawing closely follows the composition of that painting, White Painting I (1951; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), and thus was probably made soon afterwards.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Untitled
Artist:Philip Guston (American (born Canada), Montreal 1913–1980 Woodstock, New York)
Date:ca. 1950–51
Medium:Ink on paper
Dimensions:18 in. × 23 1/8 in. (45.7 × 58.7 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, 2006
Accession Number:2006.32.24
Inscription: Signed (lower right of center): Philip Guston
[Charles Egan Gallery, New York, probably sold ca. 1953 to Steinberg]; Muriel Kallis Steinberg, Chicago (ca. 1953–2006; her gift to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "An American Choice: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection," May 21–September 27, 1981, unnumbered cat. (p. 121).
Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "Abstract Expressionism, Works on Paper: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 26–April 4, 1993, no. 14.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Abstract Expressionism, Works on Paper: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 4–September 12, 1993, extended to November 7, 1993, no. 14.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 17, 2007–February 3, 2008, extended to March 2, 2008, no. 27.
Lisa Mintz Messinger. Abstract Expressionism, Works on Paper: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., High Museum of Art, Atlanta. New York, 1992, p. 44, fig. 14 (color).
Harry Cooper inAbstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow, Lisa Mintz Messinger, and Nan Rosenthal. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 83–85, no. 27, ill. (color).
Robin Pogrebin. "Met to Receive Trove of Philip Guston's Art." New York Times (December 15, 2022), p. C6.
Philip Guston (American (born Canada), Montreal 1913–1980 Woodstock, New York)
1979
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