A remarkable example of Philip Guston’s celebrated late work, ‘Calm Sea’ (1977) contains motifs familiar to the artist’s prolific final decade. The structure of forms above the sea’s horizon line appeared in the mid-1970s and persisted through the remainder of Guston’s career. This sequence of seascapes not only makes up his largest body of horizon-oriented compositions, but also reprises Guston’s repertoire of limbs, shoes, ladders, flatirons, faces, shields, and more. In ‘Calm Sea,’ Guston narrows his focus to a singular subject—the heel of a shoe, a horseshoe, or even the head of his wife, Musa—closely resembling ‘Black Sea’ (1977) from the collection of the Tate, London. Amidst a red sea and luminous blue sky rich with movement as a result of the artist’s gestural strokes, the variable form, revealing nails and a recessed center, is representative of Guston’s metaphorical system, which generates a highly specific language that evades any explicit interpretation.
Born in Montreal, Canada in 1913, Philip Guston moved with his family to California in 1919. Except for briefly attending the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles in 1930, he was completely self-taught and went on to become one of the great luminaries of 20th century art. From his early ties to social realism, the muralist movement, and abstract expressionism to the highly personal and allegorical expressions of his late figurative work, Guston’s commitment to producing art from genuine emotion and lived experience ensures its enduring impact. With a legendary career spanning a half century, Guston’s inimitable oeuvre continues to exert a powerful influence on younger generations of painters.
Artwork images © The Estate of Philip Guston. Photo: Sarah Muehlbauer
Portrait © The Estate of Philip Guston. Photo: Barbara Sproul