Autumn
Philip Guston American, born Canada
Not on view
Autumn, one of Guston's first completely abstract drawings, is inspired by Chinese calligraphy and Piet Mondrian's "Pier and Ocean" series. It features a disintegrating grid composed of a variety of thick and thin, bold and wispy black lines. The paper's white surface not only serves as a flat ground but an open space on which Guston created a structured and self-contained universe populated with a network of gestural yet controlled strokes that appear to hover in front of the picture plane. The environment is dream-like and dislocated rather than tangible and stable, with each line marking location and denoting spatial relationships instead of functioning as embodied form. As a result, the imagery of Autumn simultaneously dissolves and comes into focus, finding a balance between presence and absence, flux and stasis. Prior to the 1950s and after the 1960s, Guston was a figurative artist, making this drawing a transitional piece in his oeuvre.
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