The Ku Klux Klan was an all too real nightmare in the 1960s, especially for Black Americans. As a Jewish person living in Los Angeles in the 1930s, Guston had his own run-ins with this racist, anti‑Semitic hate group. He depicted its members for the first time in 1930, then returned to them in the 1940s and again in the late 1960s out of a desire to confront turmoil and evil in the present. "I felt, like everyone, disturbed," he said in 1974, and "I didn’t want to exclude it from the studio, from what I did." Riding Around, which appeared in an important 1970 exhibition at New York’s Marlborough Gallery, depicts three hooded thugs on "patrol" in an old-fashioned jalopy. Their nonchalant manner and bumbling demeanor, coupled with the deliberately cartoonish style in which they have been rendered, bely the danger they pose.
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Inscription: Signed (lower left): Philip Guston; inscribed (verso): PHILIP GUSTON/ "RIDING AROUND" [underlined], 1969/ OIL - "54" x "79"
the artist, Woodstock, N. Y. (1969–d. 1980); his widow, Musa Guston, Woodstock, N. Y. (1980–d. 1992); their daughter, Musa Guston Mayer, New York (from 1992; her promised gift to MMA)
New York. Marlborough Gallery. "Philip Guston Recent Paintings," October 17–November 7, 1970, no. 10.
Boston University Art Gallery. "New Paintings, Philip Guston," November 14–December 13, 1970, no catalogue.
La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. "Philip Guston: Recent Work," July 31–October 3, 1971, brochure no. 10.
XVI Bienal Internacional de Sao Paulo. "Philip Guston, Sus Ultimos Años," October 16–December 20, 1981, unnumbered cat. (p. 210).
Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City. "Philip Guston, Sus Ultimos Años," February–March 1982, unnumbered cat.
Centro de Arte Moderno, Guadalajara, Jalisco. "Philip Guston, Sus Ultimos Años," April–May 1982, unnumbered cat.
Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogatá. "Philip Guston, Sus Ultimos Años," July–August 1982, unnumbered cat.
New York. David McKee Gallery. "Philip Guston, Small Works: 1968-69," April 4–May 4, 1985, no catalogue.
Greenville, S.C. Greenville County Museum of Art. "Philip Guston," February 11–April 6, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Raleigh. North Carolina Museum of Art. "Philip Guston," May 17–July 27, 1986, unnumbered cat.
New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture. "The Great Interior," October 17–November 15, 1994.
Aspen Art Museum. "Private Worlds: 200 Years of American Still Life Painting," December 19, 1996–April 6, 1997, unnumbered cat. (p. 34).
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Philip Guston: A New Alphabet, The Late Transition," April 25–July 30, 2000, unnumbered cat. (pl. 41).
Cambridge, Mass. Fogg Art Museum. "Philip Guston: A New Alphabet, The Late Transition," September 23–December 31, 2000, extended to February 4, 2001, unnumbered cat.
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. "Philip Guston: Das große Spätwerk / Late Works," November 6, 2013–February 2, 2014, unnumbered cat. (p. 33).
Hamburg. Deichtorhallen. "Philip Guston Late Works," February 22–May 25, 2014, unnumbered cat.
Humlebaek. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. "Philip Guston Late Works," June 4–September 7, 2014, unnumbered cat.
Hauser & Wirth, Hong Kong. "Philip Guston: A Painter's Forms, 1950–1979," May 29–August 25, 2018.
New York. Hauser & Wirth. "Philip Guston, 1969–1979," September 9–October 30, 2021, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Philip Guston: What Kind of Man Am I?," May 25–August 1, 2023, no catalogue (lent by Musa Guston Mayer).
Harold Rosenberg. "Liberation from Detachment." New Yorker 46 (November 7, 1970), p. 136.
Harold Rosenberg. The De-Definition of Art. New York, 1972, p. 133.
Dore Ashton. "La Amerika de Philip Guston." Plural (February 15, 1974), ill. p. 47.
Harold Rosenberg and Philip Guston. "Conversations: Philip Guston and Harold Rosenberg: Guston's Recent Paintings." Boston University Journal 22, no. 3 (1974), ill. p. 52.
Philip Guston: Sus Ultimos Anos. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 1981, no. 2, ill. p. 15 (color).
"Curator Gives Lecture on Guston Works Today." News (Mexico City) (March 2, 1982), ill. p. 16 (color).
Mark Price. "On Display in Raleigh: Philip Guston's World Bizarre Place of Abstract Symbolism and Imagery." Fayetteville Times (May 27, 1986), p. 14A.
Cathleen McGuigan. "Night Studio." Newsweek 112 (September 26, 1988), p. 76, ill. (color).
Dore Ashton. "That is Not What I Meant at All: Why Philip Guston is Not Postmodern." Arts Magazine 63 (November 1988), p. 68.
Musa Mayer. Night Studio: A Memoir of Philip Guston by His Daughter. New York, 1988, fig. 49 (color).
Dore Ashton. A Critical Study of Philip Guston. 2nd. ed. [1st ed., 1976]. Berkeley, 1990, ill. p. 163.
Andrew Graham-Dixon. "Laughing in the Dark." Independent Magazine (February 23, 1991), ill. pp. 48–49 (color).
Miles Unger. "Philip Guston: Wrestling with the Past." Art New England 16 (December 1994/January 1995), p. 34.
William Zimmer. "At Yale, Three Small Exhibitions With Larger Thoughts in Mind." New York Times (June 11, 2000), p. CT23, ill.
Grace Glueck. "Connecticut Covers 3 Centuries Lightly." New York Times (July 21, 2000), p. E32.
Cate McQuaid. "Guston's Art is Darkness Come to Light." Boston Globe (October 28, 2000), p. F5.
Joanna Weber inPhilip Guston A New Alphabet: The Late Transition. Exh. cat., Yale University Art Gallery. New Haven, 2000, pp. xii, 14, colorpl. 14.
Francine Koslow Miller. "Philip Guston, Fogg Art Museum." Artforum (February 2001), p. 156, ill. p. 155.
Gary Chassman. In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Exh. cat.Atlanta, 2002, ill. p. 89 (color).
Harry Cooper. "Recognizing Guston (In Four Slips)." October 99 (Winter 2002), pp. 101 n. 18, p. 120.
Megan Craig. Levinas and James: Toward a Pragmatic Phenomenology. Bloomington, 2010, p. 176, fig. 3.
Robert Slifkin. "Philip Guston's Return to Figuration and the '1930s Renaissance' of the 1960s." Art Bulletin 93 (June 2011), p. 229, fig. 10.
Keith Bruce. "Between Pollock and Warhol." Herald (Glasgow) (July 27, 2012), p. 19.
David Pollock. "Philip Guston (1913–1980): Late Paintings Late Work by Renowned US Artist in Scotland for the First Time." List.co.uk. July 29, 2012, ill. (color).
Adrian Hamilton. "Philip Guston: The Hand That Rocked the Art Establishment." Independent (London) (August 20, 2012), p. 45, ill. (color).
Alastair Sooke. "Are We Supposed to Laugh or Cry?" Telegraph (August 21, 2012), p. 23, ill.
Matthew Macaulay. "Philip Guston: Late Paintings: Rebel with a Cause; A Powerful Collection of Philip Guston's Late Works." Festival Journal. August 24, 2012, ill. (color).
Alex Wood. "Philip Guston, Late Paintings at Inverleith House." lothianlife.co.uk (August 29, 2012).
Mark Sadler. "Philip Guston/Mick Peter." Frieze no. 151 (November/December 2012), p. 165, fig. 3 (color).
David Anfam and Paul Nesbitt inPhilip Guston: Late Paintings. Exh. cat., Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Edinburgh, 2012, pp. 29–30, colorpl. 9, ill. (color, installation photo, unpaginated), (color, detail, unpaginated).
Robert Slifkin. Out of Time: Philip Guston and the Refiguration of Postwar American Art. Berkeley, 2013, p. 79, colorpl. 15.
Craig Burnett. Philip Guston: The Studio. London, 2014, pp. 14, 67, colorpl. 4.
Musa Mayer. Night Studio: A Memoir of Philip Guston. 2nd ed. (1st ed., 1988). Zurich, 2016, fig. 84 (color).
Anthony Brandt and David Eagleman. The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World. New York, 2017, ill. p. 141 (color).
Eduard Fernandez. "Philip Guston exhibition in Hong Kong, narrated by his daughter, looks at his abstract and figurative works." South China Morning Post (June 21, 2018), p. 13, ill. (color).
HG Masters. "A Painter's Forms: Interview with Musa Mayer." artasiapacific.com. June 27, 2018.
"Top Hong Kong Art Shows this Week: Philip Guston to Leo Villareal." blouinartinfo.com. August 16, 2018, ill. (color).
Jerry Saltz. "How to Be an Artist." New York (November 26–December 9, 2018), p. 32, ill. (color).
Elly Thomas. Play and the Artist's Creative Process: The Work of Philip Guston and Eduardo Paolozzi. New York, 2019, pp. 158–159, colorpl. 34, fig. 6.3.
Robert Storr. Philip Guston: A Life Spent Painting. London, 2020, ill. p. 319 (installation view).
Chris Harvey. "Art galleries shouldn't be afraid of 'evil' symbols – the public don't need nannying: Tate's 'postponement' of a major Philip Guston show is astonishing. To depict hate is not to endorse it, and viewers are not fools." telegraph.co.uk. October 1, 2020, ill. (color).
J.J. Charlesworth. "Philip Guston's KKK Paintings Must Be Shown - But Not as Pawns in the Culture Wars." artreview.com. October 2, 2020, ill. (color).
Malcolm Gay. "MFA Director Vows to 'Get This Right' with Philip Guston Show." Boston Globe (November 8, 2020), ill. (color).
Peggy McGlone. "Citing Klan and lynching images, NGA and 3 other museums postpone major Guston exhibition." washingtonpost.com. September 25, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Edward Helmore. "Sense or censorship? Row over Klan images in Tate’s postponed show." theguardian.com. September 27, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Sebastian Smee. "In postponing Guston exhibition, the National Gallery and three other museums have made a terrible mistake." washingtonpost.com. September 27, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Aindrea Emelife. "Philip Guston's KKK images force us to stare evil in the face – we need art like this." theguardian.com (September 28, 2020), ill. (color).
Alex Greenberger. "Controversial Philip Guston Show Postponement Met with Shock and Anger from Art Community." artnews.com. September 28, 2020, ill. (color).
Isis Davis-Marks. "Understanding the Controversy Over Postponed Exhibition Featuring KKK Imagery: A major Philip Guston retrospective scheduled to travel to D.C., London, Houston and Boston will now take place in 2024." smithsonianmag.com. September 29, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Sebastian Smee. "A Stunningly Misguided Decision by Four Museums." Washington Post (September 29, 2020), pp. C1–C2, ill. (color, installation photo).
Sebastian Smee. "Ford Foundation’s president is apologizing for the wrong thing." washingtonpost.com. October 1, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Oscar Holland. "Artists Slam Decision to Postpone Exhibition of Philip Guston's KKK Paintings." cnn.com/style (October 1, 2020), ill. (color, installation photo).
Alexander Adams. "By postponing an exhibition featuring paintings of KKK figures, senseless censors are devaluing art." rt.com. October 1, 2020, ill. (color).
Terence Trouillot. "Artists Speak against the Postponement of 'Philip Guston Now'." frieze.com. October 2, 2020, ill. (color, detail).
Jake Marmer. "The Artist Formerly Known as Guston." tabletmag.com. October 2, 2020, ill. (color).
Kate Taylor. "Philip Guston's satirical KKK paintings are a hard sell for museums in the age of social media." theglobeandmail.com. October 6, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Robert Armstrong. "Philip Guston and the case for dangerous art." ft.com. October 8, 2020, ill. (color).
Ben Davis. "The Strongest Reactions to the Philip Guston Show’s Postponement Miss Two Key Points. Here’s What They Are—and Why They Matter." news.artnet.com. October 15, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Karan. "Art Community Backlash At Controversial Philip Guston Postponement." art-insider.com. October 20, 2020, ill. (color, detail).
Colin Lang. "Falling Out: There's No Place Like America Today." spikeartmagazine.com. October 28, 2020, ill. (color).
Helen Holmes. "A Tate Curator Was Suspended for Condemning the Delay of the Philip Guston Exhibition." observer.com. October 29, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Samuel Mcllhagga. "Philip Guston's Controversial Embrace of Figuration Still Shapes His Market." artsy.net. November 3, 2020.
Sarah Cascone. "The Postponed Philip Guston Show Will Now Open in 2022 With New Contributions From Artists and Historians." news.artnet.com. November 5, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Ben Lawrence. "The arts have become a toxic battleground." telegraph.co.uk. November 5, 2020, ill. (color).
Maximilíano Durón. "Embattled Philip Guston Exhibition Gets New Itinerary, Beginning in Boston in 2022." artnews.com. November 6, 2020, ill. (color).
Antonis Chaliakopoulos. "Controversial Philip Guston Exhibition Due to Open In 2022." thecollector.com. November 6, 2020, ill. (color).
Constance Grady. "If museums want to diversify, they'll have to change. A lot." nymag.com. November 12, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Alastair Sooke. "2020 in art: a year of toppled statues and spineless virtue-signalling." telegraph.co.uk. December 12, 2020, ill. (color).
Isis Davis-Marks. "Understanding the Controversy Over Postponed Exhibition Featuring KKK Imagery: A Major Philip Guston Retrospective Scheduled toTravel to D.C., London, Houston and Boston Will Now Take Place in 2024." smithsonianmag.com. September 29, 2020, ill. (color, installation photo).
Roberta Smith. "After the Storm, Philip Guston for Real." nytimes.com. September 9, 2021, ill. (color, installation photo, Exh. New York 2021).
Murray Whyte. "How do you contextualize an artist who captured hate?" bostonglobe.com. September 16, 2021.
Vivian Chui. "Philip Guston's Most Controversial Decade of Work." ocula.com. September 22, 2021, ill. (color, installation photo, Exh. New York 2021).
Harry Lehmann. "Kunst, Freiheit, Moral." Lettre International (Winter 2021), pp. 24–33, ill. (color).
Murray Whyte. "What museums can learn from Philip Guston and his frank take on 'white culpability'." Boston Globe (January 10, 2021), p. N3, ill. (color).
Sebastian Smee. "Philip Guston's art speaks to our present moment. We shouldn't have to wait to see it." washingtonpost.com. January 14, 2021, ill. (color).
Pac Pobric. "Art Critic Robert Storr Has Never Been Afraid to Make Enemies. As He Releases a New Book of Essays, He's Still Pulling No Punches." news.artnet.com. January 20, 2021, ill. (color, installation photo).
Ilana Novick. "Controversial Philip Guston Paintings at Hauser & Wirth." artandobject.com. October 4, 2021.
R.C. Baker. "Tragicomic Soothsayer: Philip Guston Rides Again." villagevoice.com. October 22, 2021, ill. (color).
Mira Schor. "Philip Guston." 4columns.org. October 22, 2021, ill. (color, installation photo).
Michael Romain. "Stray thoughts after a storm." [oakpark.com]. June 21, 2022.
Stephen Smith. "I Paint What I Want to See by Philip Guston review — notes from the ‘cancelled’ artist who painted the Ku Klux Klan." times.co.uk. May 17, 2022.
Aindrea Emelife. A Brief History of Protest Art. London, 2022, pp. 16–18, 47, ill. p. 46 (color).
Musa Mayer. Night Studio: A Memoir of Philip Guston. 7th [1st ed, 1988]. [Zurich], 2023, p. 363, fig. 84 (color), fig. 118 (color, installation photo, Exh. New York 2021).
The Guston Foundation, ed. Catalogue Raisonné. Online resource [gustoncrllc.org/home/catalogue_raisonne], 2024 (accessed), no. P69.120, ill. (color).
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