Guston in Time: Remembering Philip Guston [Hardcover]

Ross Feld (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2003

Novelist Ross Feld remembers his friend, the acclaimed artist Philip Guston, in a beautiful blend of memoir, biography and art criticism interspersed with extracts from Guston's vibrant letters. Painters have needed writers from the time of Vasari. By words visual imagery is given a second vividness, and writers recast it into a descriptiveness that's infinitely portable. The figurative painter Philip Guston found such an interpreter of his art in his friend, novelist Ross Feld. Guston in Time is Feld's final appreciation of Guston and his work. Both a complex study of one of the twentieth century's greatest artists and a testament to a wonderful friendship, it is ultimately a tribute to a great character. Philip Guston lives and breathes in this book. The excerpts from his letters are brash and brilliant, and Feld's fantastic images of the man are a mosaic of his grandiosity of spirit. As Feld writes, "he was like a Zero Mostel, a supernova of personality," and here Feld has created an unforgettable portrait of a man and his art, crafted with love and genius. Philip Guston's life was, in many ways, a chronicle of twentieth century American painting. He was a muralist with the Federal Art Project in the 1930s, an abstract expressionist in the fifties and sixties, and in the last and most important decade of his life, Guston's work changed yet again. His late, figurative work-crude, bold and beautifully painted-enraged the art establishment, but helped embolden a younger generation of artists to risk a new style of painting that became known as Neo-Expressionism. He died in 1980.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The appearance of the critic, novelist and poet Feld's engaging memoir of his late friend the painter Philip Guston (1913-1980) records a double loss, for Feld died in 2001, shortly after its completion. And although the book functions as a moving memorial to a deep and supportive friendship, Feld the critic forgoes the tired parade of anecdotes common to the personal memoir to keep a keen focus on Guston's work, especially the paintings of his last years. Scott Fitzgerald's "there are no second acts in American lives" has been disproved over and over again; Guston added a third act that was unlike anything in the history of art, American or otherwise. Beginning as a muralist in the great Mexican social realist tradition, Guston went on, as many before him, to become an abstract expressionist, but one of uncommon lyric power. But late in his career, Guston returned to figuration, employing motifs from early work (such as hooded Klan figures, now with cigars) and truncated self-portraiture (eyes, heads and enormous-footed sleeping figures) that seemed derived as much from Robert Crumb and the Sunday funnies as from the "historical tradition." Feld's readings of a number of these paintings, informed by his intimacy with the artist, are near-definitive models of passionate clarity and explication. Interwoven with these readings are similarly vivid glimpses of a troubled but lovable man, and the friends-including Philip Roth, composer Morton Feldman and poet Clark Coolidge-whose devotion to Guston is equally palpable. The book is valuable, too, for the light it sheds on the often ill-understood reciprocal nature of the relationships between artists and critics. For just as it is clear that for Guston Feld's articulate support was crucial, Guston's responses to Feld's criticism and other work seems just as important. Guston himself is abundantly present, not only in Feld's reminiscences and the well-chosen illustrations, but in the many letters to Feld that are included. Such generosity is typical of this remarkable volume, which recalls Rilke's "Letters on Cezanne" in its joyful intensity.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Ross Feld is the author of four novels, a book of criticism, and a collection of poetry. His articles and criticism were widely published, and he has been awarded a Pushcart Prize as well as fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Macdowell Colony. He lived for years in Cincinnati, where he died in May 2001.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 172 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint; First Edition edition (August 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582432848
• ISBN-13: 978-1582432847
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #556,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intimate correspondence between the artist and friend, March 28, 2008

By 

Steve in San Francisco "Steve" (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guston in Time: Remembering Philip Guston (Hardcover)

For Guston fans who want a little more insight on how his brain worked, this is a gem. It contains lots of letters between him and Ross Feld (the author), as well as anecdotes and stories about Guston and his wife and their life in Stockbridge. You quickly see that Guston was very much an emotional being, possibly manic-depressive, who drank and smoked and ate too much - but truly loved life. This is a quick read, but an invaluable part of a Guston library for the insights it provides on his up-and-down career and (sometimes) bewildering artwork. The negatives are that it's a bit pricey for such a little book, and it's a little short on commentary.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A recommended pick for Guston fans, November 13, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guston in Time: Remembering Philip Guston (Hardcover)

Figurative painter Guston's life was vibrant; he was a muralist, then an abstract expressionist, and finally a figurative artists. Here friend and novelist Feld, Guston's friend, interprets his works and his friendship with Guston, adding many personal insights and embellishments from the friendship which will lead artists to a fuller appreciation of his life. A recommended pick for Guston fans who want an insightful biography/memoir.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Insights, October 10, 2007

By 

Jim Lourie (James Lourie) "artist" (Bellingham, WA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Guston in Time: Remembering Philip Guston (Hardcover)

This book has some very fine insights into the painting life of Philip Guston. Worth the read.