Philip Guston

This is the premier collection of dialogues, talks, and writings by Philip Guston (1913-1980), one of the most intellectually adventurous and poetically gifted of modern painters. Over the course of his life, Guston's wide reading in literature and philosophy deepened his commitment to his art--from his early abstract expressionist paintings to his later gritty, intense figurative works. With his gift for stories and wordplay, Guston left many recorded talks, conversations, and notes written to himself in his studio. This collection, edited by his longtime friend Clark Coolidge, with many pieces appearing in print for the first time, lets us hear Guston's voice-as the artist delivers a lecture on Renaissance painting, instructs students in a classroom setting, and discusses artists and writers such as Piero della Francesca, Chirico, Picasso, Kafka, Beckett, and Gogol. Introduced with an overview of Guston's life and work by Dore Ashton, these commentaries demonstrate why his words matter and at the same time provide a compelling perspective on art itself.