This book, the most comprehensive survey of Guston's art to date, is published on the occasion of a major international exhibition. It brings together for the first time the different bodies of the artist's work, exposing the connective threads between each of his developmental stages. In-depth essays by a noted group of critics and art historians explore Guston's early influences and the emergence of symbols that resurfaced and played prominent roles in his late work. They provide insight into Guston's philosophy regarding abstraction, his role within its development, and the social and art historical context from which his so-called "Klan" paintings emerged. In addition, one of Guston's own essays on art and innovation is reprinted.
Also included are selections of drawings that act as both prelude and restatement at each stage of the artist's career; a number of works from Guston's Estate that have never been exhibited before and that shed new light on his development; an extensive illustrated chronology of the artist's life and career; and a comprehensive bibliography.

Michael Auping is Chief Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, and curator of Philip Guston Retrospective. He is the author of Abstract Expressionism: The Critical Developments, Clyfford Still 1904-1980: The Buffalo and San Francisco Collections, and Arshile Gorky: The Breakthrough Years. Michael E. Shapiro is Director of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia Joseph Rishel is Senior Curator of European Painting & Sculpture Before 1900 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Andrew Graham-Dixon, former Chief Art Critic of The Independent, is now contributing editor to Vogue Bill Berkson is a poet, and was Philip Guston's longtime friend and correspondent Dore Ashton is a critic and essayist