Philip Guston Small Oils 1969-1973 at MCKEE GALLERY .wmv

James Kalm is delighted to bring viewers along for a holiday stroll through this exhibition of small works by one of New Yorks most influential painters. Executed during a five year period while Guston was developing his Hooded Figure and Roma series, these pieces show the concentration and focus the artists was bringing to his return to figuration. Divided in to four categories, single objects, hoods, cityscapes and studio interiors, these small pictures retain their power despite their small size, and bare testament to the high regard Guston maintains among young contemporary painters.

[@jhb61249]

Fantastic. Thanks James and Kate.

[@casteretpollux]

Watching this in 2020 in the era of Guston' bandment. Thankyou, James and Kate.

[@chezceleste]

Thank you Kate

[@nathanlafontaine3258]

When someone provides a recorded experience for what deserves first-hand experience-rage! rage against the dying of the light!

[@claureic]

They are actually not studies, but independent pieces in their own right. Guston always insisted on that. The piece at 3.44 is an absolute masterpiece. I must have stared at it for 15 min. without blinking!

[@claureic]

James, again my humble thanks. They didn't do a catalogue, so I didn't have any remembrance of this fantastic show. I will treasure this video. I am so grateful that you did that!

[@margaretholland671]

Great to see these 'idea' paintings. A look inside Philip's mind and glimps his preoccupations.

[@jpapare]

Seeing these small works, will really enhance how I see the large works. I really love these and, if not for you, probably would never have seen them. There is so much "self" in such a small space. It makes me address how much "self" I put into my own work.

[@claureic]

One thing that strikes me about these small panels, apart from their unique imagery, is that they are very painterly. When you see them in real, you feel an urge to touch the surface. There is a tremendous amount of work put into them.

[@skunstt]

Always love your video,s !!

[@LawrenceCurrie]

Great Fun Thank you James and Kate

[@deborahbaca1345]

Awesome show. Great narration. Thank you.

[@candeaguilar]

location location, thats the name of the game for artists,,this work is a good example of that

[@5lyone]

really nice pieces

[@IDOLODORO2]

fabulous show --- i appreciate yr effort to make it accessible via video

[@IDOLODORO2]

thanx to you i get to visit th fuller bldg in my underwear --- wonderful pictures by P GUSTON a great poet in paint

[@arockj]

Thanks for sharing this one James. Loved it. "Oh, that's a juicy little cup."

[@ALTHEGREAT101]

i AM A SUPER BIGTIME GUSTON FAN AND ONLY JUST DISCOVERED THIS VIDEO, WHICH I LOVE; NOW IT IS MY FAVORITE THANKS JAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@yenomerom]

hey thanks james. youre so lucky to get to see all these cool shows in ny. thanks for bringing them to everyone else. guston rocks!

[@chriserskineartist]

Great pieces, you can really see him working things out. What I find most interesting is that most of the works are developing the visual elements of his larger paintings rather than working out just the whole composition. Maybe it just the selection of works in the show, but if he is working out his future visual language then that is very interesting. Thanks James and Kate. Chris

[@themaster-zz1tb]

YOU ARE A LEGEND, THANKS FOR THESE UPLOADS

[@jameskalm]

Who am I to argue with "THE MASTER"...

[@raymonddumas]

thanks for all your work - with out you, no views of whats going on up there! love you getting in close! keep going!

[@jameskalm]

Thanks for reminding me. I loved the retrospective at the Met several years ago and wish I'd have recorded some of that, but...

[@henrygrove100]

Thank you!

[@timeanagain]

Thanks James. Saw a big exhibit at the National Gallery in DC of Guston's works. He was his own man it seems and dealt with the rejection apparently pretty well.

[@claureic]

Yes she does. The book is called Night Studio, and it is great reading.

[@claureic]

Guston also stressed that the hooded figure was a kind of self-portrait, a way for him to try to know what it was to be evil, what it was to be plotting evil. He turned away from abstraction saying: "I am sick of all this purity". That was in 1968-69...

[@ajemazi]

Thank you! made me grab paper and draw!

[@ArtSFBlog]

so good

[@plywood75]

300,000. i really wish i had it.

[@claureic]

Yes. It is currently on the artnet site. He has an interesting theory on the influence of those green shades (a fixture of NYC apartments in the 60's) on Rothko signature dissolving rectangular planes.

[@claureic]

I've watched this video some 20 times...

[@candeaguilar]

I do respect and even like his unique work, but yes, I think that his geographic lacation has allowed his work to fit into history. Julian Schnable and Ray Smith lived here in Brownsville but made it into art history in New York, where there is real interest, collectors, gallerists etc.....

[@artedebuenosaires]

Oh Christmas in NY. That's fantastic!! I would like to be there... thank you again James, I feel like I would be there :) a strong hug from springtime in Buenos Aires

[@claureic]

There was a lot of of pressure on Guston. The critics panned him, calling him "a mandarin pretending to be a stumblebum" (Hilton Kramer in the NYT). It is hard to imagine the ostracism Guston lived in at the time. This is why he left for Woodstock.

[@claureic]

Interesting take by Charlie Finch on the green shade...

[@egg8dogtoo]

Thank you so much for this.

[@claureic]

Answer to your question: if you had the money, if Guston's art had changed your life the first time you saw his work and had enriched it ever since, if you thought those small works were like a new alphabet that taught you a new way to read life...then you would spend the $300 000...and you would even find it cheap...

[@claureic]

It is not any gallery: McKee was one of the very few who understood Guston's shift to figuration after his show at Marlborough's. He's been his dealer for 35 years. Also, he's handling the estate.

[@claureic]

It is true that they remind Morandi by their size and sometimes imagery, but I don't think it goes beyond that. The one Italian who really influenced Guston all his life was De Chirico. He kept a Chirico book next to his bed...

[@claureic]

I have an info: The "Jo" of the dedication on the piece at 7.31 was Guston's sister-in-law, Jo Chalmers, his wife's sister.

[@claureic]

Most of these panels belong to Guston's daughter and some to private collectors. No one wants to sell them at ANY price.

[@slaytonj5]

great one james. good spot on the shoes/death reference. Guston showed me that one as well. //j

[@casteretpollux]

Hanging lightbulb, fraid to say, makes me think of him as a boy finding his father dead.

[@jameskalm]

And I think De Chirico's brother Alberto Savinio, who is much lesser known but was important to many of the "TransAvant-Garde" painters.

[@jameskalm]

Hey jahuyser, as I understand it, Guston went to Rome (perhaps on a Prix de Rome) and became infatuated with Morandi, as well as some other lesser known Italian painters from the Metaphysical movement.. I think it was Morandi's tonal style that most influenced him.

[@michaelmcclure3383]

I bet he started back into figuration with these little studies before going onto the larger canvases.

[@melissacarterTS]

@claureic Actually Guston was profoundly influenced by Piero della Francesca moreso than De Chirico or Morandi. It is more literal in his early social works of the 30's and 40's but has its place in all three phases of Guston's career.

[@claureic]

@ar4216 Thanks for the tip. As far as I know, the only critic who understood Guston's shift immediately was Harold Rosenberg. As for his peers, De Kooning was very supportive ("your paintimgs are about freedom"). Hilton Kramer, Robert Hughes, etc, all the NY establishment, they simply didn't get it...

[@casteretpollux]

Or they got it very well, and were hostile. He made a powerful critique of abstraction and in favour of social/psychological/political engagement of the painter.

[@claureic]

Guston's klansmen, they are De Chirico's faceless mannequins. Also his cityscapes, his studio paintings (with the easel in the center), all those come from De Chirico.

[@casteretpollux]

Interesting and like most of his generation he went through a phase of surrealism, but klansmen were a real thing in his life went they attacked a strike he was involved in as a young man and ripped his paintings from a wall. Check out The Inquisition (Struggle Against Fascism and War), Guston and Kadish.

[@headyBC]

a lot of these look like they were also in the New Alphabet show that was up at Yale, then Harvard, in 2000... but, my memory is a bit foggy. i could be mistaken.

[@jameskalm]

Please explain. Are you saying that Guston is only considered good because he was located in a specific geographic area, or that his work fits into a unique area in art history?

[@JeffersonDinedAlone]

@claureic You stood in awe looking at that? Why?

[@claureic]

@melissacarterTS You're perfectly right. I know a photograph of Guston's studio that shows works by Piero pinned on the wall...

[@PaintingCourse]

How were you able to view a Guston exhibition without a Museum telling you how you're supposed to interpret them!!!!?? (sorry...being sarcastic)

[@jameskalm]

Yes, the museums have been failing for the last 400 years (gosh, they only started 350 years ago...)

[@claureic]

Savino as a playwright, thinker and musician maybe; but as far as painting goes, Savino's work is more or less a copy of his brother's. Or is it the other way around? As far as I know, Guston always mentioned De Chirico.

[@claureic]

You know, these paintings were a hard sell during the seventies. Guston had to move from NYC to Woodsctock, because the NY artworld completely rejected him. Location , at least during his lifetime, was not that good an asset for him...

[@bryandibucci583]

Cherries llll, is viscous. 🍒guston Loren you should teach.your Paintings remind me of ad reinhardt drawings-in his 1 of 2 Books.but in color.

[@jameskalm]

Thanks @Bryan DiBucci , but there's not a single educational institution in America that would risk having me in a classroom on a regular basis. Also, Ad Reinhardt is, and has always been, one of my greatest inspirations...JK

[@bryandibucci583]

@@jameskalm appreciate the Gallery go round. Thanks, good Job.

[@bryandibucci583]

Happy holidays 🎄🎁 Liked what you said in your studio. "The deskilling Of painting today."🛢

[@jameskalm]

@@bryandibucci583 If you have time, and like Reinhardt, check this out...kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3PLf52daNZ2e80

[@arockj]

To Oigres, What do you mean by "this?" Does your "this" mean the "filming style" is a joke? or the "paintings" in you mind are horrible and how can any one take this serious? or do you mean these particular "Guston" paintings are a joke? Because a lot of them are meant to be funny. What do you mean by "this?"

[@Cre8iveSignWorks]

fantastic video....loved it! but can someone tell me why i would want to spend $300000 on a very small painting that was painted on a bit of wood in about 5 mins and probably by a brush sticking out of his arse? that would take me years to earn that sort of money. life sucks! but i tell you what, he wouldnt get a job in my sign shop painting outlines like that! (im not really bitter. im just trying to justify the turgid miasma of existance) lol thanx 4 the vid james!

[@Seercho]

this is a joke right?