Viewing Philip Guston at Tate Modern

In 1970, Philip Guston shocked the art world with a show at the Marlborough Gallery featuring hooded Ku Klux Klansmen as part of his efforts to call out racism in America. His cartoonish forms were slammed as “clumsy” and “embarrassing” by critics and they led to his expulsion. Fifty years later, the controversy has continued, with his American retrospective delayed due to sensitivities around racial tensions and fears they could be misinterpreted – prompting cries of cowardice from art world figures. It eventually opened in Boston in 2022.

Now at Tate Modern in London until February 25, the exhibition spans Guston’s diverse five-decade career. Only one room at Tate is dedicated to his “Hood” works, which have been contextualised for today’s audiences and are shown as part of the artist’s transition from Abstract Expressionism to literal figuration. Growing up as a Jewish boy in 1920s Los Angeles, Guston witnessed Klan violence, influencing his art. The 1960s brought a disillusionment with abstraction as he grappled with societal upheaval, creating vivid, surreal works that delve into the complexities of good and evil.

Amid the controversy, Tate Modern’s exhibition provides insight into Guston’s rich body of work, from the dreamlike Legend to the magisterial Sleeping and The Line. Objects like cigarettes and paintbrushes take on symbolic significance, offering viewers a journey through the artist’s evolving perspectives. The show encourages us to reflect on Guston’s response to different periods, from post-WWII sensory silence to his condemnation of everyday evil in later years. It’s a rousing and thought-provoking experience, made all the punchier by Guston’s cartoon-like delivery.