Philip Guston (Modern Masters Series, Vol. 11) [Paperback]

Robert Storr (Author)

Book Description

Series: Modern Masters Series | Publication Date: June 1, 1991

With more than 100 illustrations -- approximately 48 in full color -- this innovative series offers a fresh look at the most creative and influential artists of the postwar era. Modern Masters form a perfect reference set for home, school, or library. Each handsomely designed volume presents:

- A thorough survey of the artist's life and work

- Statements by the artist

- An illustrated chapter on technique

- Chronology

- Lists of exhibitions and public collections

- Annotated bibliography

- Index

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press (June 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558592504
• ISBN-13: 978-1558592506
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #571,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good history, July 1, 2000

By 

ADP (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philip Guston (Modern Masters Series, Vol. 11) (Paperback)

Philip Guston's long career had three distinctive phases. As a young man, he took up painting with the WPA artist program and made left-leaning, social-realist murals and canvases in many places around the country. By the late 1940's, he had moved on to abstraction, producing shimmering, painterly works that were somewhere between the dynamism of Jackson Pollock and the stillness of Mark Rothko. In the last ten years of his life, influenced by the restlessness of the 60's, he painted Robert Crumb-like cartoonish images that hinted at even darker comic nightmares than Crumb ever imagined (and, more occasionally, the uplifting power of love and idealism). This last phase may have been the best of all. Storr's great book is an excellent exegesis of all three of these hard-to-follow transitions, by an artist that simply did not make analysis easy. The mostly full-color illustrations complement the text almost perfectly.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best available on Guston, April 13, 2007

By 

Claude Reich (Florianopolis, Brazil and Paris, France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philip Guston (Modern Masters Series, Vol. 11) (Paperback)

Written by a leading art critic, this study of Guston's life and work is at the same time comprehensive and easy to read. From his figurative beginnings and his murals in the 1930's and 1940's, to his abstract expressionnist period of the 1950's and 1960's and his controversial return to figurative art with cartoon-like characters influenced by H.Crumb's comics in the 1970's, this book covers the entire career of one of America's most influencial artists. The many illustrations add to the value of this book as being, in my opinion, the best available on Philip Guston.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro to Guston, December 26, 2000

By 

K Raboy (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philip Guston (Modern Masters Series, Vol. 11) (Paperback)

Given most art criticism, which focuses on theory with polysyllabic intensity, this book is a perfect, easy to read intro to the artist and one that makes his work more accessible. Don't fear to immerse yourself in this fine, brief bio and its color pics!