Enigma Variations: Philip Guston and Giorgio de Chirico Giorgio de Chirico Gladiators and Lion, 1927 Oil on canvas 51 x 64 inches Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome The Santa Monica Museum of Art presents an exhibition of 26 paintings from early and late in the careers of these two artists revealing their affinities of subject and spirit. The work of Giorgio de Chirico had a tremendous impact on teenage Philip Guston upon his first viewing. This exhibition demonstrates the impact beginning with de Chirico’s hauntingly beautiful paintings of the 1930s and 1940s through the monumental paintings Guston created late in his career. At the end of their careers, Guston and de Chirico simultaneously embraced the idea of complete creative freedom. Flying in the face of received critical opinion, their canvases of the 1960s and 1970s sought to reinvigorate painting. Enigma Variations will feature several of de Chirico's New Metaphysical works from this period, which will be on view for the first time in the United States. The exhibition opens Friday, Sept. 8 with a reception from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and runs through Nov. 25.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 8, 2006. Read the original PDF.