Philip Guston
Legend

Legend

© Estate of Philip Guston, courtesy Hauser & Wirth

Legend
Legend
ArtistAmerican, born Canada, 1913–1980
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Legend
Date1977
PlaceNew York, United States
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions69 × 78 1/2 in. (175.3 × 199.4 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Alice Pratt Brown Museum Fund
Object number88.35
Non exposé

Explore Further

Object Type
Description

Among the most celebrated of the Abstract Expressionist painters in the 1950s and early 1960s, Philip Guston bracketed his career with paintings devoted to the figure. In the 1940s, he painted scenes of battling figures to reflect the horrors of World War II. Late in life, Guston returned to these images, as demonstrated in this eloquent self-portrait, which can be understood as a meditation on mortality and memory.


 Dominating the composition is the figure of the artist, shown lying in bed. Behind him is a horse, which can be understood as a literal nightmare. On the left are scattered cigarettes and alcohol bottles, reminders of the bad habits Guston was forced to abandon as his health failed. The trash-can lid, which stands like a shield in the center of the composition, and the sparring clubs and fists suggest ongoing battles that populate the artist's dreams and psyche.


 


ProvenanceThe artist; [David McKee Gallery, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 1988.

Exhibition History"Philip Guston: Memorial Exhibition," David McKee Gallery, New York, October 1980.

"Philip Guston Retrospective," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, June–September 1981.

"Philip Guston," Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina, February 11–April 6, 1986; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, May 17–July 27, 1986; Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta.

"Direction and Diversity: Twentieth Century Art in the Museum Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 21–September 3, 1988.

"Pop Art: The Object Transformed," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 28–December 29, 1991.

"Modern and Contemporary Art: Spotlight on the Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 7–August 27, 2000.

"Against the Current: 20th Century Representational Art in the Collection of the MFAH," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 7, 2006–September 2, 2007.

"Modern and Contemporary Masterworks from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 8, 2007–March 2, 2008.

"Philip Guston Now," Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, May 1–September 11, 2022; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 23, 2022–January 15, 2023; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., February 26–August 27, 2023; Tate Modern, London, October 3, 2023–February 4 2024. (OL.1409)

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Step
Philip Guston
1979
Oil on canvas
2007.568
Connection
Philip Guston
1979
Oil on canvas
2007.567
Passage
Philip Guston
1957–1958
Oil on canvas
2004.20
Untitled (Night Sky No. 2)
Philip Smith
2022
Oil pastel, colored pencil, and gesso on canvas
2022.128
Two Nudes with Red Drape
Philip Pearlstein
1965
Oil on canvas
2010.175
Two Nudes with Yoruba Mask and Carousel Ostrich
Philip Pearlstein
1994
Oil on canvas
2007.26
Averroes
Philip Taaffe
2016
Mixed media on canvas
2020.442
Philip Wofford
1972
Mixed media on canvas
79.276
lick your teeth, they so clutch
Rachel Jones
2021
Oil pastel and oil stick on canvas
2021.433
Circostanza eroica (Heroic Situation)
Enzo Cucchi
1981
Oil on zinc, oil on canvas
2018.286.A,.B
Untitled
Paul Mogensen
1966–1978
Oil and stand oil on canvas
78.230
The Display on the Return to Dulnon Camp, August 1786
Sawrey Gilpin, with human figures and animals by Philip Reinagle
c. 1786
Oil on canvas
BF.1987.1