Philip Guston

Philip Guston (born 27 June 1913 – died 7 June 1980) was one of the great American artists associated with the New York School that included Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline and Barnett Newman. As Pollock’s prices have risen, so have Guston’s, punctuated by a number of memorable auction battles.

Philip GUSTON met Philip GUSTON in the 1920s. They were both students at the Los Angeles School of Art and were both seduced by Marxist theory. Inspired by the art of the North American Indians and Mexican muralists (Guston painted several murals in Mexico and the United States between 1934 and 1942), he initially painted figurative and politically motivated works before moving on to abstract painting.

The 1940s and 1950s saw one of the most important revolutions in 20th century art: the emergence of Abstract Expressionism. Guston renewed his contact with Jackson Pollock, abandoning the realism of his early works and started using random chance, accidents and automation on large abstract frescos. This direction met with considerable success. He befriended the great art critic Harold Rosenberg, exhibited at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1955 alongside the main protagonists of Abstract Expressionism (Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko) received his first American Rome Prize and saw his works acquired by prestigious collections… His work continued in the Abstract Expressionist vein throughout the 1960s, when Guston created his most sought-after works.

In 1970, this brilliant abstract career took a radical turn on the occasion of an exhibition at the Marlborough Gallery in New York. Far from the usual coloured fields, Philip Guston shocked his fans by returning to narrative and figurative paintings. The childlike style of his new works resembled that of cartoons, and particularly those of Robert Crumb. His themes returned to social issues, often depicting violence and ordinary injustice in the recurring figure of the Ku Klux Klan. Guston’s change of style was quickly praised as an example of the kind of freedom that artists should aspire to.

Market: abstract versus figurative

In May earlier this year, Guston set a startling new personal auction record when a painting from his abstract period triggered a genuine moment of auction room euphoria, exceeding its high estimate by no less than $11 million. The painting in question is a tribute to Fellini (To Fellini) completed in 1958 and it fetched $23 million at Christie’s on May 15 ($25.8m including costs, versus a pre-sale estimate of $8m – $12m). To Fellini is still far behind Jackson Pollock’s auction record of $52 million ($17 million above its high estimate) for Number 19, 1948 generated at the same Christie’s sale; but there can be no doubt that the price of Guston’s work was substantially inflated by the spectacular price levels achieved by his friend. With five results above the $10 million threshold over the past decade, Pollock’s market price has stimulated the prices of other Abstract Expressionists, as evidenced by Guston’s top three auction results (all above $6 million) and a price index up 320% since 2000. However, Guston’s figurative works are beginning to catch up, with an acceleration of 7-digit results for the latter since 2007. One of them, Head and Bottle (1975), fetched $5.8 million ($6.53m including costs) at Christie’s New York on 15 May 2007. Today, his best figurative charcoal drawings sell for up to $260,000 which is actually more expensive than some of his abstract works in ink, available from around $15,000. Acquisition opportunities in the intermediate price range are rare and are closely monitored in the United States which accounts for 95.3% of his auction revenue.