Car [special proof]
started 1979, published 1980
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph on HMP Koller Transfer handmade paper [special proof]
Dimensions
sheet: 51.2 x 77.7 cm (20 3/16 x 30 9/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Gemini G.E.L. and the Artist
Accession Number
1981.5.175
Art Historical Context
Philip Guston's *Car [special proof]*started 1979, published 1980) captures the artist's late-career shift toward bold, figurative imagery that blended personal introspection with social commentary. By the 1970s, Guston—once a key Abstract Expressionist—had rejected abstraction for cartoonish, surreal scenes featuring everyday objects like cars, evoking unease and absurdity. This lithograph, a special proof from the renowned Gemini G.E.L. workshop, reflects his mature style, where mundane motifs became vehicles for exploring isolation, memory, and postwar American anxieties. Printed on luxuri...
About the Artist
Philip Guston
Philip Guston (1913–1980) was a Canadian-born American painter whose career traced a remarkable arc from Social Realism through Abstract Expressionism to a radically personal form of figurative painting that has profoundly influenced contemporary art. Born Phillip Goldstein in Montreal, he grew up in Los Angeles, where he befriended Jackson Pollock at Manual Arts High School and was largely self-t...