Catalogue Raisonné

P47.004

Performers, 1947
Oil on canvas
48½ x 32⅜ in.
123.2 x 82.2 cm
Signature unconfirmed; inscribed on reverse: "PERFORMERS"/ Philip Guston/ 1947
Provenance
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1950
Exhibitions
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Museum of Art, Utica, NY, "Philip Guston", November 02, 1947 - December 01, 1947 
National Academy Museum, New York, NY, "Pepsi-Cola Company's Fifth Annual Exhibition, Paintings of the Year", September 29, 1948 - October 31, 1948 Travelled to:
University Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, "Philip Guston", April 10, 1950 - May 12, 1950 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, "20th Century Painters, A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in The Metropolitan Museum", June 16, 1950 - October 29, 1950
Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY, "Twentieth Century Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art", September 25, 1977 - December 31, 1977 Travelled to:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, "Tribute to a Curator: Robert Beverly Hale", November 16, 1978 - March 04, 1979
Rutgers University Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ, "Realism and Realities: The Other Side of American Painting, 1940 - 1960", January 17, 1982 - March 26, 1982
Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL, "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from the Metropolitan Museum of Art", February 09, 1985 - April 21, 1985 Travelled to:
Musee Rath, Geneve, Switzerland, "Les figures de la liberte: mille neuf cent quarante cinq", October 27, 1995 - January 08, 1996
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO, "Art Along the Rivers", October 03, 2021 - January 09, 2022
Bibliography
Pepsi-Cola Company's Fifth Annual Exhibition: Paintings of the Year. Exh. cat. New York: National Academy of Design, 1948, cat. no. 60, illus. in b&w, no page #
Philip Guston. Exh. cat. Minneapolis: University Gallery, University of Minnesota, 1950, cat. no. 15, illus. in b&w no page #, Loaned by Metropolitan Museum of Art
Hale, Robert Beverly. 100 American Painters of the 20th Century: Works Selected from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1950, illus. in b&w p. 95, listed in checklist on p. xv
20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in The Metropolitan Museum. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1950, listed p. 6, not illus.
Geldzahler, Henry. "Twentieth Century Art." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1965–1975. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975, mentioned in text p. 220, not illus.
Ashton, Dore. Yes, but... A Critical Study of Philip Guston. New York: Viking, 1976, illus. in b&w p. 75
Harrison, Helen A. Twentieth Century American Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat. Southampton: Parrish Art Museum, 1977, p. 28, fig. 22
Harrison, Helen A. La Peinture Americaine au 20e Siecle de la Collection du Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat. Brussels: Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1978, no. 21 (as "Les Musiciens")
Philip Guston. Exh. cat. New York: George Braziller, 1980, illus. in b&w p. 20 Fig. 6, and mentioned in text pp. 17 and 19
Berman, Greta, and Jeffrey Wechsler. Realism and Realities: The Other Side of American Painting, 1940–1960. Exh. cat. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Art Gallery, 1981, no. 67, p. 73 Figure 83
Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat. New York: Jacksonville Art Museum, 1985, no cat. #, p. 155, mentioned in text pp. 10, 143 and 156
Thaw, Eugene Victor. "The Abstract Expressionists." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Winter 1986–1987, illus. in b&w Figure 4 p. 6 and mentioned in text p. 9
Zaller, Robert. "Philip Guston and the Crisis of the Image." Critical Inquiry 14, no. 1 (1987): pp. 69–94, mentioned in text pp. 71 and 73, not illus.
Greene, Alison de Lima. "The Artist as Performer: Philip Guston's Early Work." Arts Magazine, November 1988, pp. 55–61, illus. in b&w p. 60 no. 15, and mentioned in text p. 60
Ashton, Dore. A Critical Study of Philip Guston. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990, illus. in b&w p. 75
Anfam, David. Abstract Expressionism. London: Thames & Hudson, 1990, mentioned in text p. 139, not illus.
Les figures de la liberté: mille neuf cent quarante cinq. Exh. cat. Genève: Musées d'art et d'histoire, 1995, not illus.
Storr, Robert. Philip Guston: A Life Spent Painting. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2020, No. 26 illus. in color p. 37 and illus. in b&w p. 292 as part of a photo with Guston
Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration. Exh. cat. St. Louis: Saint Louis Art Museum, 2021, cat. no. 129 illus. in color p. 183 and mentioned in text p. 161