Lecture | “Philip Guston, Mexico, and Muralism”
Philip Guston, Bombardment, 1937, oil on panel, Philadelphia Museum of Art, gift of Musa and Tom Mayer, 2011. © Estate of Philip Guston, courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Lecture “Philip Guston, Mexico, and Muralism”
2022 Ruth K. Shartle Lecture Series
This lecture, open to the public, is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Philip Guston Now. Admission is free with your ticket.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Philip Guston was profoundly influenced by his encounters with the work of David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco. “Philip Guston, Mexico, and Muralism” examines the unique dynamic of Guston’s early years as he came of age as an artist, encountering these muralists for the first time. The talk also explores Guston’s 1934 to 1935 tenure in Morelia, Mexico, as he created the monumental fresco The Struggle against Terrorism with Reuben Kadish and Jules Langsner; and the lasting humanism and social engagement that continued to inform Guston’s WPA (Works Progress Administration) projects and later paintings.
Speakers
• Michael Wellen, Senior Curator, International Art, Tate Modern, London
• Jesse Lerner, Filmmaker and Professor of Media Studies in the Intercollegiate Media Studies Program of the Claremont Colleges, California
• Alison de Lima Greene, the Isabel Brown Wilson Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art and MFAH Curator of Philip Guston Now
Plan Your Visit Free tickets are available for this lecture, which takes place in Brown Auditorium Theater in the Law Building. Philip Guston Now, on view in the Beck Building, is included with general admission. On Saturdays, the Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Safety Guidelines Masks are recommended in Museum auditoriums. In the interest of your personal safety and community health, please observe all precautions set forth by the MFAH—learn more here.
The Ruth K. Shartle Lecture Series is made possible by a generous grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc.
Learning and Interpretation programs receive generous funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services; Samuel H. Kress Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; Houston Junior Woman’s Club; Sharon G. Dies; Sterling-Turner Foundation; Susan Vaughan Foundation; and additional generous donors.
“Philip Guston Now” is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Tate Modern, London; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Major support for the international tour of the exhibition (and the catalogue) is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
In Houston, major support is provided by
Bobbie Nau.
Additional generous support is provided by
Musa and Thomas Mayer
Bettie Cartwright
Cecily E. Horton
PHILLIPS
Beth Robertson
Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff
Jay Jones and Terry Wayne Jones