Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at Tate Modern on the 20th century American artist Philip Guston. I’d done a course on Guston the week before and was very glad I had as his career was so varied I’m not sure I would have understood the trajectory of it just with the commentaries although they were good. You hardly believe that one artist did all the work as each period is so different. The show is chronological, starting with early pieces inspired by contemporary European art and the early Italian Renaissance. I was fascinated to see how his art developed purely from looking and that he had no formal training. There was a good section of his mural work which combined good archive material with easel works of the same period to show their style. I think these pieces were my favourites as they did remind me of Italian frescos. The period post Second World War saw him move into abstract expressionism along with other American artists. I never respond well to this type of art but it was wel...

Excellent online study day from the London Art History Society on Philip Guston. Ben Street took us clearly through the different phases of Guston’s career from figurative painting to abstraction and back to figurative work. He explained the themes of the work and placed the in the context of the times in which they were painted. I didn’t know Guston’s work but wanted to see the exhibition at Tate Modern and was looking for a good introduction to the artist and this gave me a good grounding for when I did see the show a week or so later (watch out for my review of that). Street had covered some themes which didn’t come out clearly in the show and I felt it gave me a chance to view the work without obsessive reading of labels.