Roma

Philip Guston American, born Canada

1971

Not on view

Days after the opening of his controversial exhibition at Marlborough Gallery, New York, in October 1970, the artist and his wife, Musa, sailed for Europe where Guston was to spend nine months as artist in residence at the American Academy in Rome. This welcome respite from the intensity of his New York life was also a warm reminder of the pleasant time he had spent there in residence from 1948–49, and he returned to many of his favorite ruins and public gardens, rendering them in dozens of small scale paintings on paper. The menacing hooded figures who had overwhelmed the viewers at Marlborough—speaking so bluntly to the deep scourge of racial violence that still stalks this country’s streets—now seemed somewhat subdued, surrounded by the piles of ancient stones and ruined monuments of the Roman cityscape.

Artwork Details

Overview

Inscriptions and Markings

Provenance

References

Title: Roma
Artist: Philip Guston (American (born Canada), Montreal 1913–1980 Woodstock, New York)
Date: 1971
Medium: Oil on paper mounted on canvas
Dimensions: 28 3/16 × 40 1/16 in. (71.6 × 101.8 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Mireille and James Levy, 2021
Object Number: 2021.2.8
Rights and Reproduction: © Estate of Philip Guston
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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