- 115
Philip Guston
Estimate
300,000 - 400,000 USD
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Description
- Philip Guston
- Ancient Rock, Ostia
- signed, dated '71, and inscribed ROMA; signed and titled on the reverse
- oil on paper mounted to board
- 20 by 28 1/4 in. 50.8 by 71.8 cm.
Provenance
Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1997
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1997
Exhibited
Rome, Museo Carlo Bilotti - Aranciera di Villa Borghese; Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, Philip Guston, Roma, May 2010 - May 2011, cat. no. 31, p. 189, illustrated in color
Condition
This work is in very good condition overall. There are artist’s pinholes in each corner of the sheet. The colors are bright, fresh and clean. Under close inspection, a few pinpoint losses to the paper are visible along the top edge towards the left side, possibly from the time of execution, and there are a few faint handling marks visible along the left edge. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
"In Guston’s images these shapes [a square, a triangle, and a circle] masquerade as pines, hedges, topiary trees, hooded heads, bare bald heads, boulders, hewn stones, tablets, clocks wheels, and so on in a ceaseless metamorphic series emanating from each of these primary iconographic emblems. Together, they constitute the DNA of Guston’s art, the code that engendered its myriad mutations yet guaranteed its formal as well as symbolic integrity. In these three shapes East meets West, Sengai’s magisterial reductionism meets Leon Battista Alberti’s mastery of complexity, Cage and Feldman meet de Chirico and Picasso, and the universe in all its transformational potential became accessible to a brooding yet playful artist whose ambition was to hold together contradictions that overwhelmed or frightened away so many of his peers while claiming for himself an unlimited license to make old things new."
Robert Storr in Peter Benson Miller, Ed., Go Figure! New Perspectives on Guston, New York 2015, p. 15