Untitled (Study for Queensbridge Housing Project Mural)

Philip Guston American, born Canada

1939

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

The WPA sponsored the creation of tens of thousands of murals in government-owned buildings across the country. Guston’s study for one such mural—for the Queensbridge Houses Community Center in Queens, New York—explores themes of urban poverty, idleness, and pollution through references to depression and death. The scene in the foreground, of children wielding a repurposed trash can lid and other urban debris as weapons in their play fight, is the only motif to appear in the realized mural, whose focus shifted to community activities, such as sports and dance, projecting a less ominous tone than that of this study.

Artwork Details

Title: Untitled (Study for Queensbridge Housing Project Mural)
Artist: Philip Guston (American (born Canada), Montreal 1913–1980 Woodstock, New York)
Date: 1939
Medium: Colored pencil and ink on paper
Dimensions: 15 × 24 3/4 in. (38.1 × 62.9 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Promised Gift of Musa Guston Mayer
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art