Philip Guston

American, born Canada, 1913-1980

Multiplied

Philip Guston (American, born Canada, 1913–1980). Multiplied, 1972. Oil on canvas, 66 x 80 1/2 inches (167.6 x 204.5 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., by exchange, 2000 (2000:7). © Estate of Philip Guston.

© Estate of Philip Guston, courtesy Hauser & Wirth

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

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© Estate of Philip Guston, courtesy Hauser & Wirth

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Philip Guston, courtesy Hauser & Wirth

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Multiplied, 1972

Artwork Details

Currently on View

Collection Highlight

Materials

oil on canvas

Measurements

support: 66 x 80 1/2 inches (167.64 x 204.47 cm); framed: 68 x 82 5/8 x 2 inches (172.72 x 209.87 x 5.08 cm)

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Credit

Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., by exchange, 2000

Accession ID

2000:7

Philip Guston began his career painting social realist murals for the Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration. After settling in New York in the 1940s, he gravitated toward Abstract Expressionism. However, he ultimately abandoned abstraction in 1968 as a response to the social upheavals of the era. Developing a highly original style influenced by the comic books he loved as a boy, Guston redirected his practice to confront the injustices and growing culture of fear, racism, and violence he observed in American life. While the bright colors of Multiplied may at first appear cheerful, the hooded figure on the right of the picture plane alongside a cluster of shoes attached to thin, disembodied legs adds a distressing note. This entity is a reoccurring motif that connects Guston’s later work to his formative years as a painter, when he often depicted the brute subject matter of lynching and outfitted Klansmen. Embedded in the work’s imagery are numerous dualities. In this graveyard-like scene, for example, the figure is reminiscent of the Grim Reaper—another ominous, albeit fictional, cloaked character. Likewise, the soles of the shoes allude to the souls of the numerous victims of racial atrocities.