Allegory
- Artist
- Philip Guston, American (born Canada), 1913–1980
- Date
- 1975
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- made in
- Woodstock, New York, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Paintings
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 68 x 73 1/4 in. (172.7 x 186.1 cm)
framed: 68 3/4 x 74 in. (174.6 x 188 cm) - Credit Line
- Funds given by the Shoenberg Foundation, Inc., and Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Shoenberg by exchange
- Rights
- © [year of publication] Estate of Philip Guston
- Object Number
- 8:1990
NOTES
In this painting Philip Guston examined the dilemma of an artist: What is an artist’s role in society? Guston presented himself here as an abstract blue head in profile. He looks downward into the bespectacled eyes of composer Morton Feldman while sculptor Raoul Hague beats a jumble of shoes. The brow rising over the horizon belongs to Musa Guston, a poet and the painter’s wife. The veiled symbolism of this composition suggests that the artist faces ambiguity in the search for artistic truth, rather than the objectivity of science—represented by geometric shapes, numbers, and rulers.
Provenance
by 1979 - 1990
David McKee Gallery, New York, NY, USA [1]
1990 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from David McKee Gallery [2]
Notes:
[1] According to a 1979 publication, the painting was owned by the David McKee Gallery ["Poets & Painters", The Denver Art Museum, November 21, 1979 - January 13, 1980].
[2] Invoice dated March 1, 1990 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, March 1,1990.
David McKee Gallery, New York, NY, USA [1]
1990 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from David McKee Gallery [2]
Notes:
[1] According to a 1979 publication, the painting was owned by the David McKee Gallery ["Poets & Painters", The Denver Art Museum, November 21, 1979 - January 13, 1980].
[2] Invoice dated March 1, 1990 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, March 1,1990.