Guston in Time: Remembering Philip Guston

Novelist Ross Feld remembers his friend, the acclaimed artist Philip Guston, in a blend of memoir, biography and art criticism interspersed with extracts from Guston's vibrant letters. Painters have needed writers from the time of Vasari. By words visual imagery is given a second vividness, and writers recast it into a descriptiveness that's infinitely portable. The figurative painter Philip Guston found such an interpreter of his art in his friend, novelist Ross Feld. This book is Feld's final appreciation of Guston and his work. Both a complex study of one of the 20th century's greatest artists and a testament to a wonderful friendship, it is ultimately a tribute to a great character. Philip Guston lives and breathes in this book. The excerpts from his letters are brash and brilliant, and Feld's fantastic images of the man are a mosaic of his grandiosity of spirit. As Feld writes, he was like a Zero Mostel, a supernova of personality, and here Feld has created an unforgettable portrait of a man and his art, crafted with love and genius.