From Publishers Weekly
The appearance of the critic, novelist and poet Feld's engaging memoir of his late friend the painter Philip Guston (1913-1980) records a double loss, for Feld died in 2001, shortly after its completion. And although the book functions as a moving memorial to a deep and supportive friendship, Feld the critic forgoes the tired parade of anecdotes common to the personal memoir to keep a keen focus on Guston's work, especially the paintings of his last years. Scott Fitzgerald's "there are no second acts in American lives" has been disproved over and over again; Guston added a third act that was unlike anything in the history of art, American or otherwise. Beginning as a muralist in the great Mexican social realist tradition, Guston went on, as many before him, to become an abstract expressionist, but one of uncommon lyric power. But late in his career, Guston returned to figuration, employing motifs from early work (such as hooded Klan figures, now with cigars) and truncated self-portraiture (eyes, heads and enormous-footed sleeping figures) that seemed derived as much from Robert Crumb and the Sunday funnies as from the "historical tradition." Feld's readings of a number of these paintings, informed by his intimacy with the artist, are near-definitive models of passionate clarity and explication. Interwoven with these readings are similarly vivid glimpses of a troubled but lovable man, and the friends-including Philip Roth, composer Morton Feldman and poet Clark Coolidge-whose devotion to Guston is equally palpable. The book is valuable, too, for the light it sheds on the often ill-understood reciprocal nature of the relationships between artists and critics. For just as it is clear that for Guston Feld's articulate support was crucial, Guston's responses to Feld's criticism and other work seems just as important. Guston himself is abundantly present, not only in Feld's reminiscences and the well-chosen illustrations, but in the many letters to Feld that are included. Such generosity is typical of this remarkable volume, which recalls Rilke's "Letters on Cezanne" in its joyful intensity. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Novelist Ross Feld remembers his friend, the acclaimed artist Philip Guston, in a beautiful 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. Guston in Time is Feld's final appreciation of Guston and his work. Both a complex study of one of the twentieth 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. Philip Guston's life was, in many ways, a chronicle of twentieth century American painting. He was a muralist with the Federal Art Project in the 1930s, an abstract expressionist in the fifties and sixties, and in the last and most important decade of his life, Guston's work changed yet again. His late, figurative work--crude, bold and beautifully painted--enraged the art establishment, but helped embolden a younger generation of artists to risk a new style of painting that became known as Neo-Expressionism. He died in 1980.


About the Author
Ross Feld is the author of four novels, a book of criticism, and a collection of poetry. His articles and criticism were widely published, and he has been awarded a Pushcart Prize as well as fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Macdowell Colony. He lived for years in Cincinnati, where he died in May 2001.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In the years following his controversial 1970 exhibition at the Marlborough Galleries, Philip Guston was generally viewed as yesterday's scandal, a maverick who had abandoned abstract expressionism and, with it, the adulation of the art world. Few paid serious attention to the disturbing, profound work he was producing in his Woodstock studio. So when Ross Feld, a young novelist and critic, wrote a penetrating review of Guston's latest show, the artist sent him a letter of appreciation: "I felt...as if we knew each other and had had many discussions about painting and literature. In a word - I felt great recognition."

Thus began a remarkable friendship, Feld, a frequent visitor to Guston's studio where the two men would talk late into the night, became Guston's intellectual sparring partner and sounding board - "I'll shout it right out," Guston wrote to Feld, "you inspire me to paint again!" - as well as the artist's most eloquent critic and champion. Guston in Time in Feld's final tribute, and it is at once a testament to a friendship, a provocative and richly nuanced study of one of the twentieth century's most important artists, and a portrait of a remarkable character.

Feld illuminates Guston's key relationships, with wife Musa and composer Morton Feldman, and brings the man himself to life in all his exasperating complexity: "Omnivorous, narcissistic, brilliant, sometimes verbally fluent to the point of glibness and flattery, horridly lonely, someone for whom nothing was enough and too much at the same swamping moment.

Feld's evocation of Guston's late, figurative works is equally memorable and acute.

SYNOPSIS

Feld (1947-2001) is the author of four novels, a book of criticism, and collection of poetry. In 1975, he wrote a brief, but insightful review of a gallery show of Guston's (1913-1980) work for Arts magazine. Months later, Feld received a surprising note from Guston himself—and a remarkable friendship was born. While the focus of this text is Feld's analysis of Guston's life and work, aspects of their friendship are also conveyed. Some 35 cards and letters exchanged between the artist and author are included in an appendix. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The appearance of the critic, novelist and poet Feld's engaging memoir of his late friend the painter Philip Guston (1913-1980) records a double loss, for Feld died in 2001, shortly after its completion. And although the book functions as a moving memorial to a deep and supportive friendship, Feld the critic forgoes the tired parade of anecdotes common to the personal memoir to keep a keen focus on Guston's work, especially the paintings of his last years. Scott Fitzgerald's "there are no second acts in American lives" has been disproved over and over again; Guston added a third act that was unlike anything in the history of art, American or otherwise. Beginning as a muralist in the great Mexican social realist tradition, Guston went on, as many before him, to become an abstract expressionist, but one of uncommon lyric power. But late in his career, Guston returned to figuration, employing motifs from early work (such as hooded Klan figures, now with cigars) and truncated self-portraiture (eyes, heads and enormous-footed sleeping figures) that seemed derived as much from Robert Crumb and the Sunday funnies as from the "historical tradition." Feld's readings of a number of these paintings, informed by his intimacy with the artist, are near-definitive models of passionate clarity and explication. Interwoven with these readings are similarly vivid glimpses of a troubled but lovable man, and the friends-including Philip Roth, composer Morton Feldman and poet Clark Coolidge-whose devotion to Guston is equally palpable. The book is valuable, too, for the light it sheds on the often ill-understood reciprocal nature of the relationships between artists and critics. For just as it is clear that for Guston Feld's articulate support was crucial, Guston's responses to Feld's criticism and other work seems just as important. Guston himself is abundantly present, not only in Feld's reminiscences and the well-chosen illustrations, but in the many letters to Feld that are included. Such generosity is typical of this remarkable volume, which recalls Rilke's "Letters on Cezanne" in its joyful intensity. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Following his much-derided break from pure abstract art, the American artist Philip Guston (1913-80) wrote a letter to the novelist and critic Feld (Zwilling's Dream), initiating a stimulating friendship that would span the last five years of Guston's life. Prior to his own death in 2001, Feld assembled this collection of personal reminiscences and anecdotes from his dynamic interaction with one of 20th-century America's most enigmatic artists. Though perfectly timed to correspond with the retrospective exhibition of Guston's work organized by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (see Michael Auping's excellent Philip Guston Retrospective), this biography/remembrance/collected letters suffers from a lack of identity and focus. Rather than a critical analysis of Guston's late work, it is a record of the intellectual sparring match between two dear friends. Each chapter of the book's first section begins with a letter or excerpt, but these are not fully identified or reproduced in full in the otherwise chronological compilation of letters that follows. The "Letters" section offers a wonderful epistolary record of the dialog between artist and writer; however, the format and arrangement of the book hinders any straightforward examination of the letters. Recommended only for libraries wishing to supplement existing Guston scholarship.-Kraig Binkowski, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews