Guston in Time: Remembering Philip Guston

by Ross Feld

The late paintings of Philip Guston have had a profound influence on painters today. As time has passed and Guston’s star has risen, it has been forgotten how scandalous and crude these paintings, with their cartoonish imagery and curiously faltering application of paint, were initially deemed to be. The 1970 show at the Marlborough Gallery in which Guston, abandoning the delicate abstract expressionist style for which he was known, revealed his new style was critically savaged. In the aftermath of this drubbing, Guston retreated to his studio in Woodstock, New York—in part to nurse his wounds but, more important, to go on painting exactly as he saw fit.

Ross Feld, a young poet, novelist, and critic, was one of the few reviewers of Guston’s show to write favorably about it. Guston responded with a grateful note and a new friendship was soon born. Feld became an inveterate visitor to the painter’s and an inspiration to his work. Guston in Time, written not long before Feld’s early death from cancer, is a portrait of Guston the man; of his wife, Musa, a major figure not only in his life but in his work; and a reckoning with his supremely individual achievement as an artist. Feld’s slim and resonant book is a work of art in its own right.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography, Essays, Art History, American, 20th Century

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 2003

Reviews

[Jonfaith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A price is paid for knowing about death too well too young.
Guston In Time is a stunning summit between the artist (Guston) and critic (Feld) but it is also a chronicle of a friendship, more lighting in a bottle than anything captured in amber. This wonderful book is also a meditation on living as opposed to life. The author battled cancer from a young age and the artist certainly understood the premise of borrowed time and especially deplored the notion of half measures to extend matters. The book itself is an artful construction involving memoir and criticism with masterful excerpts from Guston’s letters. Following the text is the complete correspondence between the friends, something I didn’t expect and was nearly floored by in terms of impact and beauty. My highest recommendation.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wondeful book on actually a nice relationship between critic and the artist. Part essay, part correspondence, with a tad of biography, this is an interesting approach to the magnificent Phlip Guston. What I read was the galley from NYRB and this is going to be reissued in May 2022.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written. It does make me want to check out Feld's poetry. (I had not heard of either man until NYRB had this as its book of the month for its subscription service, so it should be noted that effected my reading of this.) The NYRB edition includes plates of the paintings, so you can get a sense of the artwork being discussed.

[Hetian bias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ummm so yummy delicious like ice cream and revitalized my Guston love…..who wants to go to moma and stare at tomb and cry

[michal k-c · Rating 4 out of 5]

doesn’t really offer any fresh insight into Guston’s life or work but is a really sweet work when regarded as a life paraphrased by a close friend. love that Guston was basically forced into abstraction and invited some skepticism and scorn because he didn’t see the move to abstract expressionism as especially liberating, lots to glean there. what if we were never really liberated from formalism, but rather lost contact with meaningful images and symbols? “You want a clock, here’s a clock”

[Peter Landau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only real formal training he had was a cartooning correspondence course as a child.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The was the May 2022 New York Book Review (NYBR) Classic selection. As with a lot of NYRB selections I would never have selected this book, especially since I didn’t know who Philip Guston was and art criticism isn’t a genre I’ve ever read or would consider reading - but this is one of the reason I so enjoy the NYBR book club: the exposure to new literature, ideas and opportunities to grow. I’d describe the book as part biography, memoir and a discussion of Guston’s art as told through some of Guston’s letters to Feld (which begin in 1976 shortly before Guston’s death in 1980), the book also contains an appendix of the 35 letters written between Guston and Feld not included in the book. These give addition detail on Guston’s curiosity, his idea of the artistic imagination and the artist spirit as evidenced in his work. There are also pictures of some of Guston’s later works included with the book which are strange -at least to me (I admit I’m not a great lover of modern art as I’m probably more of a traditionalist - alas!) - but Feld helps explain them giving insight to what Guston was seeking to show in them. From what I can gather Guston had three phases in his art - starting out as a muralist in the Mexican social reality tradition, he moved to abstract and expressionism and then a disturbing period of “figuration” in which he took figures from his earlier period and wove these into the “newer” paintings - some of these appear in the book. It was this period that heaped much criticism on him. Guston was also close to writers such a Frank O’Hara and Philip Roth (he was to others but I at least recognized these two). The deep friendship Feld and Guston had comes through. This was interesting read. Not sure if I’m going to explore abstract art more but I gained appreciation for an artist and the artist imagination.

[Lila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially, I was unsure what to make of this book and it sat on my shelf until I read a TLS review of a recent exhibition of Philip Guston's paintings at the Tate (and Washington D. C.). I am not that familiar with contemporary American abstract artists, so didn't have much context for Ross Feld's memoir. However, when Charles Darwent explained in his review of the showing that Guston's family had emigrated from the Ukraine to Canada to escape pogroms, that Guston's family name was an anglicized Goldstein, that Guston's father committed suicide in Los Angles over despair in the face of KKK power (all of which are in Feld's introduction). I went back to Feld's collection of letters and art criticism. The bottoms of boots, hooded heads, and disjointed legs featured in Guston's work made a lot more sense. Although there is no list of illustrations, the center of this edition has well-reproduced paintings by Guston that Feld discusses. Feld, himself, a wonderful art critic, struggled with illness and was barely able to complete this manuscript.

This was the May 2022 NYRB Classics Selection.

[Trevor Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An art critic retrospects his friendship with artist Philip Guston in this biography. The narrative is interpolated between outgoing letters from Guston, who from accounts was a manic-depressive of large appetites (Guston changed his name from Goldstein - a coincidence?) and eventually a pariah of the abstract expressionist movement of the New York School (think Pollock/Rothko) for his too-concrete imagery. Many threads of the novel I found inaccessible, such as the contextualization of Guston's work w.r.t. others of the School - however this can't be a shortcoming of the novel but rather of my own knowledge of art history, as it was written clearly (though with some jargon). Other discussions were more engaging to me, like the tension between instantiating a subject onto canvas and the sacrifice of all the rough edges of said subject inherent in that process. Perhaps most accessible was the charming correspondence in the appendix between the two men in which their love for one another was clear. Overall, a nice vacation from what I'd typically read with much food for thought.

[Glen Helfand · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's difficult to think of art legends, like Philip Guston, as actual people. Of course besides being a great artist, he was a human, warm and difficult. Ross Feld's short book assesses Guston from the perspective of someone who 'got' the man and his work. After writing a review of Guston's work in the 1970s, his non-abstract period, the artist wrote an appreciative note to (the decades younger) Feld, starting a great friendship. The book is a bit of biography, with an insider's view, as well as a critical appreciation. It is thoughtful and observant about the artist and his work. An appendix includes the letters between the two men and it reveals a bromance between the two, and they sign each missive with "love". Sweet.

[Elderberrywine · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I really don’t have much to say about this. I am vaguely familiar with some of the guy’s work, which to me is reminiscent of the minions as interpreted by R. Crumb. But without a background in contemporary art, this book, written by a friend of his (novelist and critic), doesn’t give me much in the way of context or interpretation. So, um, OK? At least there were some illustrations.

[Paul van Zwieten · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful friendship revealing much about the urgency of Philip Guston’s work as it was being made. The letters at the end of the short book are amazing and nearly floored me.

[Zachariah Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

❤️

[Cory Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had not been familiar with Guston's work.

Interesting personal stories between the author and the painter and their dynamics over the years.

Interesting included personal letters between the two.

[Daniel Polansky]

A short essay detailing the author's friendship with the eponymous neo-expressionist painter. Art criticism is pretty far outside my balliwick which is probably why I tend to enjoy reading it.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5

[Ned Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unexpected gift

[The Atlantic]

"In the newly rereleased book 'Guston in Time,' the novelist and critic Ross Feld praised Guston’s capacity and willingness to imbue even 'the most upsetting or disquieting imagery' with 'a shaggy, even goofy friendliness.' He wasn’t wrong about the friendliness: The hoods look like Hershey’s kisses crossed with Moomins. Yet painting the Klansmen approachably doesn’t defang them. By depicting them so crudely that it can take a moment to identify them, Guston arguably tricked his viewers into lingering—and then urged them not to look away." — Lily Meyer

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/a...

[David Gallin-Parisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ross Feld's writing about Guston is magnificent, like putting new batteries in the flashlight, shining it on familiar surfaces that reveal new depth. There is an obvious friendship seeping through Feld's analysis of Guston's work, the two were incredible penpals, sending each other letters to explore and explain their processes, thought bubbles, pleasures, and pains. Reading about Guston's artistic activity is expectedly wonderful, hearing about his studio set-up and raconteur abilities is portrayed mixed with bouts of depression and doubt. Another gleam in this book are Feld's descriptions of Guston's ordinary depictions of human objects, paintings filled with things leftover from embarrassments or inquisitive, probing introspections. The best part of this book is learning how friendship grows, strengthens, stretches, hurts (in the instance of Morton Feldman), and ultimately bonds to makers together. A very quick read, with Feld's post humous notes arranged into a book, followed by many of the letters between writer and painter.

[Jeff Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating short book that's a combo of art criticism, memoir, and letters. It's an incisive examination of the importance and vitality of Philip Guston's paintings from the 60s and 70s, scandalous work that was a slap in the face to both abstract expressionism and the notion of progress in modern art in general.

[Pepe Nero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any book about Guston is worth a read, just to get a deeper understanding of the man and his work. A wonderful book, hard to find now, is Dore Aston's "Yes, but . . .' one of the finist ever about a visual artist, ranks next to, perhaps above, 'The Horse's Mouth (Joyce Cary)

[Jez · Rating 4 out of 5]

quick read and really funny. classic sedaris

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Wrote up a good bit here: http://www.dailygusto.com/blog/archiv...