Philip Guston Small Oils 1969-1973 at MCKEE GALLERY .wmv

[quintincollins]

With so much discussion about Italian influence in Guston's work, check out the recent book 'Phillip Guston: Roma'. Great tangent on his late paintings I hadn't seen before.

[IDOLODORO2]

thanx to you i get to visit th fuller bldg in my underwear --- wonderful pictures by P GUSTON a great poet in paint

[claureic]

Just to give you an idea how people who own these small panels treasure them: the last one, at 7.52, I saw it in the owner's apartment...It hangs by itself on a huge white wall, with nothing else on that wall, and you just stand in awe staring at it...

[JeffersonDinedAlone]

@claureic You stood in awe looking at that? Why?

[claureic]

@JeffersonDinedAlone A tiny painting on a huge white wall, usually you don't see the painting. It is devoured by the wall. Maybe you saw the 2009 Elizabeth Peyton show at the New Museum?The tiny Peyton paintings were like swallowed by the museum walls . Now, this didn't happen with this Guston panel: I saw it on its own, hanging on a very large white wall, and the only thing you saw was the painting:glowing, powerful, mesmerizing. The colors, the thickness of that tiny white square...

[ALTHEGREAT101]

i AM A SUPER BIGTIME GUSTON FAN AND ONLY JUST DISCOVERED THIS VIDEO, WHICH I LOVE; NOW IT IS MY FAVORITE THANKS JAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[durgaman]

Thank you, James. Next best thing to being there.

[rapunzel1313]

thanks so much for taking us to this show. !

[claureic]

I have an info: The "Jo" of the dedication on the piece at 7.31 was Guston's sister-in-law, Jo Chalmers, his wife's sister.

[Cre8iveSignWorks]

fantastic video....loved it!

but can someone tell me why i would want to spend $300000 on a very small painting that was painted on a bit of wood in about 5 mins and probably by a brush sticking out of his arse?

that would take me years to earn that sort of money. life sucks!

but i tell you what, he wouldnt get a job in my sign shop painting outlines like that!

(im not really bitter. im just trying to justify the turgid miasma of existance) lol

thanx 4 the vid james!

[claureic]

Answer to your question: if you had the money, if Guston's art had changed your life the first time you saw his work and had enriched it ever since, if you thought those small works were like a new alphabet that taught you a new way to read life...then you would spend the $300 000...and you would even find it cheap...

[3idiot3]

@Cre8iveSignWorks You would have to have a much better understanding and then an appreciation of Guston. Guston wouldn't take your job. He painted his way out of 'the turgid miasma of existence', give him some credit. If you read up on Guston you'll be ashamed of your uninformed arrogance. If your life sucks, don't blame Guston.

[Cre8iveSignWorks]

@3idiot3

woahhhh...take it easy big guy!

i was just asking questions here! maybe i dont know a lot about him, maybe i should be better informed....but as i said before i know what i like and i oviously value things differently than some of you....so fuckin shoot me if im not exactly like you!

ps- my life couldnt be better thanks

[3idiot3]

@Cre8iveSignWorks i will not shoot you. you are not exactly like me. You do not like this, okay. research or move on.................i'm not mad:)

[arockj]

Thanks for sharing this one James. Loved it.

"Oh, that's a juicy little cup."

[rubasub]

"this is nice, that's umbrella" lol

loved the vid, I'm going to post it over on the myspace tribute page, thanks for your wonderful presentation.

[lightseen]

Guston ROCKS!

Thanks!!!

[jpapare]

Seeing these small works, will really enhance how I see the large works. I really love these and, if not for you, probably would never have seen them. There is so much "self" in such a small space. It makes me address how much "self" I put into my own work.

[claureic]

I've watched this video some 20 times...

[0igres]

this is a joke right?

[arockj]

To Oigres,

What do you mean by "this?" Does your "this" mean the "filming style" is a joke? or the "paintings" in you mind are horrible and how can any one take this serious? or do you mean these particular "Guston" paintings are a joke? Because a lot of them are meant to be funny. What do you mean by "this?"

[MrWowforever]

thanks mr kalm . guston:)

[ochresalad]

Great video as we all agree. Two wonderful parts: the reverence in your voice and the portrait of New York City at Christmas time in the very beginning and at the end.

Thanks James !

[LawrenceCharlesMille]

Thanks James Kalm!

Best -

[claureic]

Something that strikes me: the simplicity of the frames. The greater the painting, the simpler the frame.

[eyedeepen]

Thanks James your the man LOVE GUSTON!

[jameslour]

Thanks, just read the article and I especially liked Finch's, "Rothko saw this image every day, and, in my view, co-opted it for spiritual use."

[jameslour]

Claureic,

Where is that Charlie Finch article? Is it current?

thanks,

[claureic]

Yes. It is currently on the artnet site. He has an interesting theory on the influence of those green shades (a fixture of NYC apartments in the 60's) on Rothko signature dissolving rectangular planes.

[slaytonj5]

great one james. good spot on the shoes/death reference. Guston showed me that one as well. //j

[antoniomalta]

uau fantastic love the paintings! nice and long shot, JK!

[claureic]

Interesting take by Charlie Finch on the green shade...

[claureic]

Guston's klansmen, they are De Chirico's faceless mannequins. Also his cityscapes, his studio paintings (with the easel in the center), all those come from De Chirico.

[egg8dogtoo]

Thank you so much for this.

[jahuyser]

Thanks James. Weird to see this show as I am in an exhibition being jurored by Jeff Mays from the McKee Gallery as we speak. I just wanted to say that I find it amazing how much some of these pieces relate to the work of Morandi. When I was in nyc last year and saw the Morandi show I kept thinking of Guston. I wonder if Morandi was part of what spurred Guston to make his final shift.

[jameskalm]

Hey jahuyser,

as I understand it, Guston went to Rome (perhaps on a Prix de Rome) and became infatuated with Morandi, as well as some other lesser known Italian painters from the Metaphysical movement.. I think it was Morandi's tonal style that most influenced him.

[claureic]

It is true that they remind Morandi by their size and sometimes imagery, but I don't think it goes beyond that. The one Italian who really influenced Guston all his life was De Chirico. He kept a Chirico book next to his bed...

[jameskalm]

And I think De Chirico's brother Alberto Savinio, who is much lesser known but was important to many of the "TransAvant-Garde" painters.

[claureic]

Savino as a playwright, thinker and musician maybe; but as far as painting goes, Savino's work is more or less a copy of his brother's. Or is it the other way around? As far as I know, Guston always mentioned De Chirico.

[melissacarterTS]

@claureic Actually Guston was profoundly influenced by Piero della Francesca moreso than De Chirico or Morandi. It is more literal in his early social works of the 30's and 40's but has its place in all three phases of Guston's career.

[claureic]

@melissacarterTS You're perfectly right. I know a photograph of Guston's studio that shows works by Piero pinned on the wall...

[jahuyser]

Thanks for the info JK. I agree with your tonal style comment but would add that I think he was also influenced by Morandi's compositional decisions as well as the handling of the paint in general. Also, I am in complete agreement with the comments about De Chirico and and Savinio. Thanks again.

[quintincollins]

@jahuyser yeah, I can see what you mean --- Morandi's brush work, the grayed out palette, the horizon and the way objects are lined up --- there are similarities.

[yenomerom]

hey thanks james. youre so lucky to get to see all these cool shows in ny. thanks for bringing them to everyone else.

guston rocks!

[jensregler]

really nice pieces

[plywood75]

300,000. i really wish i had it.

[foxtrapper1972]

what a show! that nervous line, sensitivity,touch...the magical surfaces and his particular, peculiar color and that strange light that comes from beneath within the paint...thinking Guston and Morandi have much in common after seeing these...cool, James.

[claureic]

One thing that strikes me about these small panels, apart from their unique imagery, is that they are very painterly. When you see them in real, you feel an urge to touch the surface. There is a tremendous amount of work put into them.

[artedebuenosaires]

Oh Christmas in NY. That's fantastic!! I would like to be there... thank you again James, I feel like I would be there :) a strong hug from springtime in Buenos Aires

[timeanagain]

Thanks James. Saw a big exhibit at the National Gallery in DC of Guston's works. He was his own man it seems and dealt with the rejection apparently pretty well.

[hankx32]

oh my god, i have to get up to the city to see this show!

[4ureally]

please don't pan the camera in and out so much.

[pues13]

BIG fan of GUSTON!!!!! Awesome!!!1 thanks james

[ar4216]

How can a gallery afford to mount a show like this where almost all everything is not for sale? It's a pity this wasn't turned into a traveling exhibition. I would think a lot of museums would love to host this.

[claureic]

It is not any gallery: McKee was one of the very few who understood Guston's shift to figuration after his show at Marlborough's. He's been his dealer for 35 years. Also, he's handling the estate.

[claureic]

Guston also stressed that the hooded figure was a kind of self-portrait, a way for him to try to know what it was to be evil, what it was to be plotting evil. He turned away from abstraction saying: "I am sick of all this purity". That was in 1968-69...

[claureic]

They are actually not studies, but independent pieces in their own right. Guston always insisted on that. The piece at 3.44 is an absolute masterpiece. I must have stared at it for 15 min. without blinking!

[claureic]

Most of these panels belong to Guston's daughter and some to private collectors. No one wants to sell them at ANY price.

[TomHendricksMusea]

These impressed me. Very inventive stuff. Now if we could take exact reprodcutions of these and send the copies on the road. Painting reproduction is part of the art revolution.

[claureic]

James, again my humble thanks. They didn't do a catalogue, so I didn't have any remembrance of this fantastic show. I will treasure this video. I am so grateful that you did that!

[jameskalm]

Thanks for reminding me. I loved the retrospective at the Met several years ago and wish I'd have recorded some of that, but...

[candeaguilar]

location location, thats the name of the game for artists,,this work is a good example of that

[jameskalm]

Please explain. Are you saying that Guston is only considered good because he was located in a specific geographic area, or that his work fits into a unique area in art history?

[candeaguilar]

I do respect and even like his unique work, but yes, I think that his geographic lacation has allowed his work to fit into history. Julian Schnable and Ray Smith lived here in Brownsville but made it into art history in New York, where there is real interest, collectors, gallerists etc.....

[claureic]

You know, these paintings were a hard sell during the seventies. Guston had to move from NYC to Woodsctock, because the NY artworld completely rejected him. Location , at least during his lifetime, was not that good an asset for him...

[ar4216]

@claureic

The National Gallery website has a talk up by Peter Schjeldahl and near the end someone asks if his opinion of an artist ever changes. He mentions Guston, saying he felt betrayed when he started doing these. He said he spent a decade trying to convince himself he was right about these paintings (he did eventually change his opinion). It drove home how courageous it was of Guston to start doing these. He could have kept doing what he had been doing and been on easy street.

[claureic]

@ar4216 Thanks for the tip. As far as I know, the only critic who understood Guston's shift immediately was Harold Rosenberg. As for his peers, De Kooning was very supportive ("your paintimgs are about freedom"). Hilton Kramer, Robert Hughes, etc, all the NY establishment, they simply didn't get it...

[ar4216]

@claureic

At least with Schjeldahl I think it went beyond not getting it. There was a genuine anger. I seem to recall he used the word "betrayal". His view of Guston did a 180. It took 10 years for him to recognize the significance of these and acknowledge he had been wrong.

[ar4216]

@claureic

By the way, Schjeldahl's presentation was not about Guston. It was mainly him reading a couple of his older columns and taking questions. He just mentioned Guston as an example of where he got it wrong in response to a question from the audience.

[MrWowforever]

that makes no sense. artists work in countless places and their work reflects their varied upbringing. :)

[ar4216]

Wow, I love these. And there are so many of them. I'm guessing they handle his estate? And only around 4 paintings are available? So that means they sold everything else? I know none of those hooded figures are probably available. These remind me a bit of Magritte's paintings during his short lived Vache period (my favorite paintings of his). If only he had stuck with them like Guston did with these. I wonder if there was pressure on Guston to keep doing the abstract expressionist paintings.

[claureic]

There was a lot of of pressure on Guston. The critics panned him, calling him "a mandarin pretending to be a stumblebum" (Hilton Kramer in the NYT). It is hard to imagine the ostracism Guston lived in at the time. This is why he left for Woodstock.

[ar4216]

I've heard his daughter wrote a book about him. Do you know if she goes into detail about this change in his art and the fallout that resulted from it?

[claureic]

Yes she does. The book is called Night Studio, and it is great reading.