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Guston made a series of Nixon drawings as well as paintings with hooded Klan figures.
But for this exhibition, its sort of a step beyond.
It asks, How did he cope?
How was he able to transform them?
What were his sources of renewal in the process?
All the turmoil, the assassinations that had happened not long before.
I thought he was working with the burden of that societal pain.
I called that room The Solace of the Past.
My father adored Masaccio, and the Brancacci Chapel is one of the great works of all time.
In history, it seems that horror side by side with great art is a theme.
So much of the art my father adored of the Renaissance documents horror, loss, and pain.
I wanted to show some of those pieces here because were in another time like that.
Theres also an element of risk.
Do you feel that was a transformative moment for him?For him, it was never a choice.
He could not ever rest, really, with what had already been accomplished.
It happened again when he returned to figuration.
He was never more in distress than when he was highly acclaimed.
Its like success always made him uncomfortable.
Why do you think that was?I think its because there was something seductive about it.
But inevitably, he would finish that and move on to something different.
People would say, But those were so beautiful.
Why didnt you continue in that direction?
Many of his peers did continue, the artists of the New York School.
My father was always seen as an outlier someone who really belonged, but he was never about belonging.
So this is a quote from Sartre: Freedom is what you do with whats been done to you.
Which is the fundamental existential statement, isnt it?
Or, shit happens and then you figure out how you respond to it.
The paintings in the online exhibition feel particularly intimate, especially the ones of your parents.
I guess Im working my way forward through the 70s.
Theres only one painting in the last room of the exhibition:Both.
It feels like a very tranquil, calm-after-the-storm moment.I love that painting.
You wrote that the paintings in the exhibition speak to the transformative power of love.
Its not only what endures in history, although some of it is that.
Its something about the importance of history and memory and remembering.
But also, being able to look clear-eyed at what is really happening is important.
Philip Guston What Enduresis now open online at Hauser & Wirth.
