Philip Guston’s paintings are controversial. But here they are
A struggle over artistic freedom suggests a better way out of the culture wars
“PROBABLY THE only thing one can really learn”, Philip Guston eventually concluded, “is the capacity to be able to change.” The modern artist’s fate, he said, was “constant change”. As a painter he embraced that fate—and in posterity his work has proved both an index of change and a challenge to it. A new show in Boston charts his restless genius; it is also the canvas for a struggle over art’s freedom and obligations, and the contested balance between them.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Art of controversy”
Culture April 30th 2022
- Two law-enforcement officials reflect on a Brazilian corruption scandal
- What’s behind a revival of interest in Julia Child?
- The German industrialists who aided and abetted the Nazi regime
- Douglas Stuart returns with a deft, brutal new novel
- Lise Davidsen is opera’s newest star
- Philip Guston’s paintings are controversial. But here they are
From the April 30th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Culture
Sex, drugs or chastity?
Pope Francis has written the first memoir by a sitting pope. God help us
Backpacks are, surprisingly, in vogue
They are following in sneakers’ path and becoming more fashionable
Spotify’s playlists have altered the music industry in unexpected ways
A critical assessment of the Swedish streaming giant’s musical legacy
Henri Bergson was once the world’s most famous philosopher
He sought to reconcile science and metaphysics
Witty and wise, “A Real Pain” is a masterpiece in a minor key
Jesse Eisenberg’s deceptively slight film asks big moral questions
Now it’s all about TikTok. But Huawei led the way
The Chinese telecoms firm was the first to raise America’s hackles