Philip Guston vs. Theo van Doesburg
Side-by-side comparison of two thinkers
Philip Guston
1913 – 1980
Philip Guston was a Canadian and American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. "Guston worked in a number of artistic modes, from Renaissance-inspired figuration to formally accomplished abstraction," and is now regarded as one of the "most important, powerful, and influential American painters of the last 100 years". He frequently depicted racism, antisemitism, fascism and American identity, as well as—especially in his later most cartoonish and mocking work—the banality of evil.
"I should like to paint like an man who has never seen a painting, but this man – myself – lives in a museum."
Theo van Doesburg
1883 – 1931
Theo van Doesburg was a Dutch painter, writer, poet, and architect. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl.
"Art has poisoned our life. Aesthetics has infected everyone.. .If one chooses a typewriter or a sewing machine in the living room, the housewife say: 'Please ta…"
Connections
Both wrote about: