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.
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Artwork Details
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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
Accession Number:50.32
Inscription: Signed (lower left): Philip Guston; signed, dated, and inscribed (verso): "PERFORMERS"/ Philip Guston/ 1947
the artist, Woodstock, N. Y. (1947–50; sold through Midtown Galleries, New York, to MMA)
Utica, N.Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute Museum of Art. "Philip Guston," November 2–December 1, 1947, no catalogue.
New York. National Academy of Design. "Pepsi–Cola Company's Fifth Annual Exhibition: Paintings of the Year," September 29–October 31, 1948, no. 60 (as for sale, for $2,000).
Milwaukee Art Institute. "Pepsi–Cola Company's Fifth Annual Exhibition: Paintings of the Year," November 19–December 26, 1948, no. 60.
Des Moines Art Center. "Pepsi–Cola Company's Fifth Annual Exhibition: Paintings of the Year," January 15–February 15, 1949, no. 60.
Youngstown, Ohio. Butler Art Institute. "Pepsi–Cola Company's Fifth Annual Exhibition: Paintings of the Year," March 15–April 17, 1949, no. 60.
Minneapolis. University Gallery, University of Minnesota. "Philip Guston," April 10–May 12, 1950, no. 15.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in the Metropolitan Museum," June 16–October 29, 1950, unnum. brochure (p. 6).
American Federation of Arts circulating exhibition. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," January 1951–November 1952 (lent to numerous U.S. venues, including those listed below), no catalogue (checklist no. 5).
Hagerstown, Md. Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," April 1951.
Nashville. Watkins Institute. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," November 5–25, 1951.
Montgomery, Ala. Montgomery Museum of Art. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," December 1951.
Abilene, Tex. Abilene Museum of Fine Arts. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," April 7–20, 1952.
Shreveport. Louisiana State Exhibit Museum. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," May 11–25, 1952.
South Hadley, Mass. Dwight Art Memorial, Mount Holyoke College. "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," November 6–25, 1952.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
Southampton, N. Y. Parrish Art Museum. "Twentieth Century American Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 25–December 31, 1977, no. 22.
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. "La Peinture Américaine au 20e Siècle de la Collection du Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 28–August 23, 1978, no. 21 (as "Les Musiciens").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Tribute to a Curator: Robert Beverly Hale," November 16, 1978–March 4, 1979, extended to March 18, 1979, unnum. checklist.
New Brunswick, N.J. Rutgers University Art Gallery. "Realism and Realities: The Other Side of American Painting, 1940–1960," January 17–March 26, 1982, no. 67.
Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Art Museum. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–April 21, 1985, unnumbered cat. (p. 155, as "The Performers").
Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 5–June 30, 1985, unnumbered cat.
New York. National Academy of Design. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 16–September 1, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Evanston, Ill. Terra Museum of American Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 15–November 10, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 12, 1985–January 19, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–March 30, 1986, unnumbered cat.
St. Paul. Minnesota Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 20–June 8, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Geneva. Musée Rath. "Les figures de la liberté: [mille neuf cent quarante-cinq]," October 27, 1995–January 7, 1996, no cat. no. (p. 322, as "The Performers").
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration," October 3, 2021–January 9, 2022, no. 129.
Robert Beverly Hale. 100 American Painters of the 20th Century: Works Selected from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1950, ill. p. 95.
"Third Metropolitan Art Loan Exhibit Now Being Shown at Watkins Institute." Nashville Banner (November 14, 1951), p. 8.
D. R. K. "Metropolitan Exhibit at Museum." Montgomery Advertiser (December 9, 1951), p. 29.
"Paintings of Famed American Artists to Be Shown Monday." Abilene Reporter-News (April 6, 1952), p. 7-B.
"New Exhibit by American Artists Opens." Shreveport Times (May 11, 1952), p. B9.
"Widely-Known Painters' Exhibit at Mount Holyoke Opens Thursday." Transcript-Telegram (November 5, 1952), p. 3.
Henry Geldzahler in "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1965–1975. New York, 1975, p. 220.
Dore Ashton. Yes, but... A Critical Study of Philip Guston. New York, 1976, ill. p. 75.
Helen A. Harrison. Twentieth Century American Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Parrish Art Museum. Southampton, N. Y., 1977, p. 28, no. 22, ill.
Helen A. Harrison inLa Peinture Américaine au 20e Siècle de la Collection du Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. Brussels, 1978, unpaginated, no. 21, ill., reprints Ref. Harrison 1977.
Ross Feld inPhilip Guston. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1980, pp. 17, 19, fig. 6.
Greta Berman and Jeffrey Wechsler. Realism and Realities: The Other Side of American Painting, 1940–1960. Exh. cat., Rutgers University Art Gallery. New Brunswick, N. J., 1981, pp. 73, 189, no. 67, fig. 83.
Lowery Stokes Sims. The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Jacksonville Art Museum. New York, 1984, pp. 10, 143, 154–55, ill., comments that this painting communicates an element of pathos.
Eugene Victor Thaw. "The Abstract Expressionists." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 44 (Winter 1986–87), p. 9, fig. 4, calls it "The Performers"; notes that this was one of the first contemporary works to enter the MMA's collection.
Robert Zaller. "Philip Guston and the Crisis of the Image." Critical Inquiry 14 (Autumn 1987), pp. 71, 73, states that in paintings such as this one "the image of Nazi death camp orchestras merged disquietingly with the memory of the blues bands Guston had encountered during his two–year stay in St. Louis (1945–47)".
Alison de Lima Greene. "The Artist as Performer: Philip Guston's Early Work." Arts Magazine 63 (November 1988), pp. 55, 60, fig. 15.
Dore Ashton. A Critical Study of Philip Guston. 2nd. ed. [1st ed., 1976]. Berkeley, 1990, ill. p. 75.
David Anfam. Abstract Expressionism. New York, 1990, p. 139.
Robert Henkes. Themes in American Painting: A Reference Work to Common Styles and Genres. Jefferson, N.C., 1993, pp. 246–47, ill.
Robert Storr. Philip Guston: A Life Spent Painting. London, 2020, pp. 38, 40, fig. 26 (color).
Amanda Renshaw in Robert Storr. Philip Guston: A Life Spent Painting. London, 2020, ill. p. 292 (installation view, Exh. Utica 1947).
Amy Torbert, and M. Melissa Wolfe, with contributions by Beth Rubin. Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration. Exh. cat., Saint Louis Art Museum. St. Louis, 2021, p. 161, no. 129, ill. p. 183 (color).
Robin Pogrebin. "Met to Receive Trove of Philip Guston's Art." New York Times (December 15, 2022), p. C6.
The Guston Foundation, ed. Catalogue Raisonné. Online resource [gustoncrllc.org/home/catalogue_raisonne], 2024 (accessed), no. P47.004, ill. (color).
Philip Guston (American (born Canada), Montreal 1913–1980 Woodstock, New York)
1931
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