Reviews (4)

worthwhile glimpses of a difficult genius
Musa Mayer (Guston's daughter) has undertaken a brave and cathartic task in writing a biography of her father, a self-obsessed painter. Philip Guston could well be regarded as the last artist of an era inasmuch as Gustav Mahler could be regarded as the last composer of classical symphonies. With Guston one comes to the end of painting. What started with Cezanne ends here.
Unique Guston Biography
Night Studio is an excellent read about one of the more fascinating and well thought out artist's in american history, Philip Guston.From the very personal standpoint only one year after Guston's premature death at the age of 66, Meyer shows both a historical and emotional view of her father.
one of the best artist biographies i have read
As a painter, consumed by my own work at times, this book was such a treat. A wonderful and compelling look at one of the most influential artists of my career thus far. so emotional and real. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1913-    2. Art    3. Artists, Architects, Photographers    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Guston, Philip,    8. Individual Painters - 20th Century    9. Painters    10. United States    11. 20th century    12. Biography: general    13. Expressionism    14. Guston, Philip    15. Individual artists    16. Painting & paintings    17. USA   

Reviews (3)

Great addition for Guston lovers
This overall is a great book. It might not be the same quality that I have seen in a few other Thames & Hudson publishings, but it still is a great read and summary of Guston's work. Anyone that loves his work, this is for sure a book worth having.

Philip Guston: Retrospective
The definitive book on Philip Guston with many illustrations from each period of his work. Many excellent essays including one in his own words describing the evolution of each painting. terrific, but incomplete
The Guston restrospective, which I viewed at the SFMOMA in July 2003, was a rich, disturbing, illuminating exhibit.This catalogue of that show reprints a tremendous range (over 130 works) of Guston's work, all of it in fine, nuanced photography of the canvases.The early work includes realistic paintings with war themes, street scenes, and images of urban childhood in the manner of Ben Shahn.Eerily, Guston's hoods and bootsoles already appear.Next, the book's coverage of Guston's abstract phase reveals indebtedness to Mondrian's first abstractions; then Guston finds his own vocabulary in brisk, thick aggregates of rough rectangles on gently boiling backgrounds.Pink and red predominate, as in his later work.As part of both his oevre and Abstract Expresionism, these are among the most successful, aesthetic works of this great period in American art. For offering this total record of his development and contributions, the book provides something of great value.Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Individual Artist    4. Art / General   

Subjects:  1. 1913-    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Exhibitions    5. Guston, Philip,    6. History - General   

Reviews (1)

A recommended pick for Guston fans
Figurative painter Guston's life was vibrant; he was a muralist, then an abstract expressionist, and finally a figurative artists. Here friend and novelist Feld, Guston's friend, interprets his works and his friendship with Guston, adding many personal insights and embellishments from the friendship which will lead artists to a fuller appreciation of his life. A recommended pick for Guston fans who want an insightful biography/memoir. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1913-    2. Appreciation    3. Artists, Architects, Photographers    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Friends and associates    8. Guston, Philip,    9. Individual Artist    10. Individual Painters - 20th Century    11. Techniques - Painting    12. Biography: general    13. Individual artists   

Subjects:  1. 1913-    2. Artists, Architects, Photographers    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Daughters    7. Guston, Philip,    8. Individual Painters - 20th Century    9. Painters    10. United States    11. Guston, Philip    12. Mayer, Musa    13. Non-Classifiable   

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Art    3. General    4. Techniques - Drawing    5. Exhibitions    6. Guston, Philip   

Reviews (2)

Great intro to Guston
Given most art criticism, which focuses on theory with polysyllabic intensity, this book is a perfect, easy to read intro to the artist and one that makes his work more accessible.Don't fear to immerse yourself in this fine, brief bio and its color pics!

Very good history
Philip Guston's long career had three distinctive phases.As a young man, he took up painting with the WPA artist program and made left-leaning, social-realist murals and canvases in many places around the country.Bythe late 1940's, he had moved on to abstraction, producing shimmering,painterly works that were somewhere between the dynamism of Jackson Pollockand the stillness of Mark Rothko.In the last ten years of his life,influenced by the restlessness of the 60's, he painted Robert Crumb-likecartoonish images that hinted at even darker comic nightmares than Crumbever imagined (and, more occasionally, the uplifting power of love andidealism).This last phase may have been the best of all.Storr's greatbook is an excellent exegesis of all three of these hard-to-followtransitions, by an artist that simply did not make analysis easy.Themostly full-color illustrations complement the text almost perfectly. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Art    3. History - General    4. Individual Architect    5. Individual Artist    6. History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -    7. Individual artists    8. Painting & paintings   

Reviews (2)

A Critical Study of Philip Guston, by Dore Ashton
Ashton is the sole biographer authorized by the artist -- and he was well aware of her analysis of his life and work. In fact, Guston gave full approval to the first edition entitled, YES, BUT... The book doesn't explain Guston's change in art styles.
The Mystery of Philip GustonRead more

Subjects:  1. 1913-    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Criticism    5. Criticism and interpretation    6. Guston, Philip,    7. History - General    8. Individual Artist    9. Study & Teaching    10. Art / General    11. History Of Art / Art & Design Styles    12. Painting & paintings   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions - General    4. History - General    5. Individual Artist    6. Exhibitions    7. Guston, Philip    8. History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -    9. Individual artists    10. Painting & paintings    11. Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000    12. Second World War, 1939-1945   

Subjects:  1. 1913-    2. Exhibition Catalogs    3. Exhibitions    4. Guston, Philip,    5. Guston, Philip    6. Museum, historic sites, gallery & art guides   

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. History - Abstract    5. Individual Artist    6. History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -    7. Individual artists    8. Painting & paintings    9. Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000    10. USA   

Subjects:  1. Guston, Philip   

Subjects:  1. Biographies    2. Exhibitions    3. États-Unis    4. Guston, Philip    5. Peintres   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Exhibitions    3. Guston, Philip    4. O'Keeffe, Georgia    5. Painting, Modern    6. Richter, Gerhard   

Subjects:  1. Individual Painters - Contemporary    2. Criticism and interpretation    3. United States    4. Art & Art Instruction    5. Guston, Philip,    6. Friends and associates    7. Artists, Architects, Photographers    8. General    9. Biography & Autobiography / General    10. Corbett, William    11. Guston, Philip    12. Painting & paintings    13. Relations with artists    14. The Arts: General Issues    15. Painters    16. 1913-    17. Art    18. Biography    19. Corbett, William,   

Subjects:  1. 1913-    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Exhibition Catalogs    5. Exhibitions    6. Guston, Philip,    7. History - General    8. Individual Artist    9. Guston, Philip    10. History Of Art / Art & Design Styles    11. Individual artists    12. Museum, historic sites, gallery & art guides    13. Painting & paintings   

Subjects:  1. Exhibitions    2. Guston, Philip    3. The Arts: General Issues   

Subjects:  1. 1913-    2. 20th century    3. American poetry    4. Architecture    5. Art    6. Drawing    7. Exhibition Catalogs    8. Exhibitions    9. General    10. Guston, Philip,    11. Illustrations    12. Individual Artist    13. Guston, Philip    14. Museum, historic sites, gallery & art guides    15. Painting & paintings