Arshile GorkyChild's Companions
Art Bridges Collection
Philip GustonCigar
About
Cigar features a cartoonish, hooded figure based on Ku Klux Klan members that artist Philip Guston encountered in Southern California during his youth. Guston subverted the terror that the hate group inspired by rendering figures in the graphic style of the comic books he enjoyed as a child. He was fascinated by the idea that every human, including himself, has the potential for evil and destruction. Cigar functions as a self-portrait, as Guston remarked: “I perceive myself as being behind the hood.”* This self-reflection prompts viewers to think about their own capacity for hate and complicity.
*Philip Guston, quoted in Philip Guston: Paintings 1969–1980 (London: Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1982), 54. Exhibition catalogue.
Artist
Philip Guston
Dimensions
52 × 60 1/8 in. (132.1 × 152.7 cm)
Credit Line
Art Bridges
Date
1969
Medium
Oil on canvas
Object Number
AB.2017.5
Signed
verso: [signed, titled], 1969
Provenance
to Estate of the Artist, 1980; (McKee Gallery, New York, NY); purchased by Stefan T. Edlis, Chicago, IL, 2001; to (Sotheby’s, New York, NY), May 14, 2008, lot 65; purchased by Private Collection; to (Sotheby’s, New York, NY), May 18, 2017, sale N09761, lot 11; purchased by Art Bridges, TX, 2017
Artwork Gallery
1 / 8
Partner Story
An innovative new exhibition at Missoula Art Museum
In 2018, the borrowed Philip Guston’s Cigar (1969) as a single object loan to to hang in their collection galleries. Once the work was in the museum – and through conversations with Art Bridges – Cigar inspired the museum team to invite five nationally known artists with ties to their region to respond to Guston’s painting. The result, , was a special exhibition on display in Missoula from January 25 through September 21, 2019. It featured Guston’s canvas alongside new works by artists , John Buck, Richard Notkin, , and .
