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Performers

Philip Guston American, born Canada
1947
Not on view
Guston devoted much of his career to exploring the relationship between abstraction and the human form. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the artist often painted groups of moody figures, mostly children, engaged in activities—tense street skirmishes, public performances—that he saw as parallel to experiences and events in the contemporary adult world. Showing a group of young musicians, Performers is evocative of medieval European art, with the figures pressed to the front of the composition, filling the picture completely. Soon after painting Performers, Guston adopted an even more abstract style.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Performers
  • Artist: Philip Guston (American (born Canada), Montreal 1913–1980 Woodstock, New York)
  • Date: 1947
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 48 1/8 × 32 1/4 in. (122.2 × 81.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1950
  • Object Number: 50.32
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Estate of Philip Guston
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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