BC Professors Discuss Postponement of "Philip Guston Now" Exhibit by Boston MFA

In her December 1, 2020, article in The Heights, Metro Reporter Emily Kraus (’21) wrote about the Boston Museum of Fine Art’s postponement of the “Philip Guston Now” exhibit from this past July until 2024. The MFA directors cited recent events in the racial justice movement and the coronavirus pandemic as reasons for the delay, but confirmed their commitment to presenting Guston’s work.

In this collection of drawings and paintings, Guston (who died in 1980) depicts members of the Ku Klux Klan, who are shown as hooded figures engaged in everyday activities. The Boston MFA was one of three other institutions that have postponed the exhibit – the UK’s Tate, the National Gallery, and the MFA Houston.

Several BC Art Department professors weighed in on the postponement. Studio Art Professor Sheila Gallagher noted “I personally think the decision to postpone the exhibition for four years is cowardly, and I think it’s infantilizing for the audience of art to think they can’t tell the difference between a representation and advocacy. To me, the real fear is that museums will become places that are just these feel-good places full of flower paintings and will never confront difficult issues.”

Studio Art Professor Hartmut Austen added, “It is a sign of a very good artist, who was not sparing himself, was taking risks, and was challenging his audience. I think that’s really important.”

“Guston is an artist who explores the problems of white supremacy [and] of whiteness,” said Art History Professor Kevin Lotery. “I think that this postponement will now enter art history itself as a moment in the debate around museums. My understanding of what a museum should be is [that] these are spaces of debate, of conflict, of political conflict and debate. If they’re not that, why do we need them?”

To read the complete The Heights article, visit here.