During the last decade of his life, Philip Guston created some of the most influential paintings of 20th-century American art. ‘Duo’ (1970) is a quintessential example of Guston’s most acclaimed series of works, which marked a turning point not only in the artist’s oeuvre but within the history of art. Referred to by the artist as ‘hoods,’ the two masked figures at the centre of ‘Duo’ are consummate examples of Guston’s most recognizable motif. After featuring in some of his earliest paintings, the hooded figures resurface in Guston’s late work, including in his most iconic paintings created between 1968 and 1971, both as symbols of extremism and the banality of evil. ‘Duo’ grapples with the human and everyday aspects of evil. Unlike Guston’s satirical drawings of Nixon from 1971, his ‘Duo’ from a year earlier do not implicate specific individuals, holding up a mirror to society at large instead.
‘Guston’s Klansmen announced the birth of what would become known as post-modernism, an oxymoronic, inherently historicist tendency whose hallmark was looking back to the future.’
—Robert Storr [1]
About the artist
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: Damian Griffiths
Portrait of Philip Guston © The Estate of Philip Guston. Photo: Frank Lloyd
[1] Robert Storr, ‘Philip Guston. A Life Spent Painting’ (London, UK: Laurence King Publishing, 2020), p. 122.
