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Two old-fashioned irons (for pressing clothes), books, two shoes, a nail, an ashtray full of cigarette butts, a burning cigarette, and what might be a paint palette are arranged on a pink surface in this stylized painting. Each object is outlined in black, gray, or white, and filled in with mostly flat blocks of black, brown, white, or shades of pink. We look down onto the table from an angle, and the bottom quarter is clear of objects. Set a bit back on the table, a stack of three books with the topmost one open is to our left next to the two shoes, which are laid soles-up in a line. One shoe overlaps the rectangular palette, which is streaked with red, black, orange, and green. The ashtray is along the right edge of the table, and the burning cigarette hangs off the edge nearby, a thin plume of smoke wafting upward. The stake or nail, the two irons, and a pink book with an open eye looking to our right are in a row along the back of the table. Another stake stands vertically, tip down, near the back right corner. A light bulb with a gold chain and a black square with a green pull-down curtain are to our left, along the top of the composition. The artist signed the work to the left of center along the bottom edge, “Philip Guston.”

Philip Guston

Painter's Table, 1973

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 196.2 x 228.6 cm (77 1/4 x 90 in.)

framed: 197.8 x 231.2 x 5 cm (77 7/8 x 91 x 1 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift (Partial and Promised) of Ambassador and Mrs. Donald Blinken in memory of Maurice H. Blinken and in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art

Accession Number

1991.69.1

Artists / Makers

Philip Guston (artist) American, born Canada, 1913 - 1980

Image Use

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Copyright

Inscription

lower center: Philip Guston

Provenance

Acquired 1974 from the artist by Mr. and Mrs. Donald Blinken, New York; gift (partial and promised) 1991 to NGA.

Associated Names

Blinken, Donald M.

Exhibition History

1991: Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, 450-451, color repro.

2003: Philip Guston Retrospective, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2003-2004, no. 84, repro.

Bibliography

1976: Ashton, Dore. Yes, but...a critical study of Philip Guston. New York, 1976: 174-175, pl. 4 (opp. p. 95), color repro.

1982: Philip Guston: Paintings 1969-1980, exh. cat., The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Kunsthalle, Basel, 1982-1983. London, 1982: 55, repro.

1986: Storr, Robert. Philip Guston. New York, 1986: 54-55, no. 54, color repro.