Philip Guston

Canadian-born painter Philip Guston lived most of his life in the United States. Early in his career, he worked for the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Arts Project, painting murals on public buildings in New York. In the 1940s, he was a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism. In the late 1960s, Guston returned to a more figurative style, featuring cartoon-like shapes and recurring motifs, such as the soles of shoes. There have been numerous posthumous solo shows devoted to his art, including a retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2003.