Philip Guston
Catalogue Raisonné
Title
Reconstruction and the Well-Being of the Family (Social Security Triptych)
Date
1942
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
142 x 204 in.360.7 x 518.2 cm
Inscription
Signed front lower right: PHILIP GUSTON/ 1942
Catalogue No.
P42.003
Provenance
Courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration Commissioned through the Section of Fine Arts, 1934-1943, Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, Washington D.C.
Exhibitions
State University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, "[Unknown Title]", circa January 14, 1943 - January 21, 1943
Bibliography
[Publication unknown]. "Jersey Painter GetsDecorating[sic] Job in Capital." 1940. Print, mentioned in text, not illus.
Art Digest. "Shahn Best of 375." November 15, 1940, p. 8, mentioned in text, not illus.
Hinkle, Karl. ''Artist Must Bridge Gap Between Artists and Public: Guston Expresses Sentiment of Today's Young American Painter." Daily Iowan, October 9, 1941, p. 4, mentioned in text, not illus.
Omaha World-Herald. "Gains Fame for Murals: Building at Capital Gets Work by Iowan." May 17, 1942, mentioned in text, not illus.
Iowa City Press-Citizen. "Guston Completes Mural Drawings." June 18, 1942, p. 11, b&w photo of Musa standing in front of mural
Daily Iowan. "South American Tour Planned for Drawings by Prof. Philip Guston." December 17, 1942, p. 3, mural drawings and the mural mentioned in text, not illus.
Iowa City Press-Citizen. "Midtown Galleries Oil Paintings, War Poster Exhibitions Are On Now," January 14, 1943, p. 9, mentioned in text, not illus.
Daily Iowan. "Prof. Philip Guston Completes Three Paneled Mural: Painting Will Be Placed in Washington Social Security Building." January 14, 1943, p. 3, illus. in b&w and described in text
Iowa City Press-Citizen. "Guston's Mural to Go to Washington." January 16, 1943, illus. in b&w
Davenport Democrat & Leader. "'Prof' Has Busy Week." January 21, 1943, b&w photo of Guston standing in front of mural.
Des Moines Sunday Register. "A Guston Painting." February 7, 1943, mentioned in text, not illus.
ARTnews. "Guston's Social Security Mural: Completed Despite War." March 1, 1943, p. 8, illus. in b&w
Watson, Jane. "Guston Mural Now on Social Security Wall." Washington Post, March 7, 1943, p. L4, illus. in b&w
Austin American. "2nd in Series of Exhibitions Opens Tuesday: Thon, Guston and Shulkin Work to Be Presented." July 30, 1944, mentioned in text, not illus.
ARTnews Annual. "Types—by American Artists." December 1, 1944, pp. 85-94, detail illus. in b&w p. 88
Smith, L'Louise. "Life's Interest, Life's Work—Guston Likes to Paint." Daily Iowan, May 23, 1945, p. 3, mentioned in text, not illus.
Ahlander, Leslie Judd. "Art in Washington: WPA Show Puts the Past in Focus." Post-Times Herald (Washington, D.C.), July 14, 1963, description of work (not listed by title) in text, not illus.
Moritz, Charles, ed. Current Biography, February 1971, pp. 10-13, mentioned in text p. 11, not illus.
Moritz, Charles, ed. Current Biography Yearbook 1971. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1971, pp. 176-178, mentioned in text p. 176, not illus.
O'Connor, Francis V., ed. The New Deal Art Projects: An Anthology of Memoirs. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1972, mentioned in text pp. 37 and 253-254, not illus.
O'Connor, Francis V., ed. "Philip Guston and Political Humanism." In Arts and Architecture in the Service of Politics, edited by Henry A. Milton and Linda Nochlin. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1978, Fig. 3 illus. in b&w p. 348 and mentioned in text pp. 345 and 349
Vishny, Michele. "On The Walls: Murals by Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, and Seymour Fogel for the Social Security Building, Washington D.C." Arts, March 1987, pp. 40-43, illus. p. 42
Shapiro, Michael Edward. "Philip Guston: The War Years." Print Collector's Newsletter, September–October 1994, mentioned in text p. 129, not illus.
Philip Guston Tableaux / Paintings 1947 - 1979. Exh. cat. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2000, mentioned in text p. 132, not illus.
Auping, Michael. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Philip Guston Retrospective. Exh. cat. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003, mentioned in text p. 28, not illus.
Auping, Michael. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Philip Guston Retrospective. Exh. cat. Hardcover ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003, mentioned in text p. 28 (Michael E. Shapiro essay), not illus.
Baskind, Samantha. Encyclopedia of Jewish American Artists. London: Greenwood Press, 2007, mentioned in text p. 137, not illus.
Botelho, Manuel. Guston em contexto: até ao regresso da figura. Lisbon: Livros Vendaval, 2007, mentioned in text p. 47, not illus.
Storr, Robert. Philip Guston: A Life Spent Painting. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2020, cartoon illus. in b&w p. 287 as part of a photo with Musa McKim and mentioned in text p. 22
Cooper, Harry, Mark Godfrey, Alison de Lima Greene, and Kate Nesin. Philip Guston Now. Exh. cat. Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2020, mentioned in text pp. 11, 22-23, 225 and 226, not illus.
Brooklyn Rail. "Reflections on Philip Guston Now." June 2023. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Brooklyn Rail. "Reflections on Philip Guston Now." June 2023, pp. 30-31, mentioned in text, not illus.
Coolidge, Clark, ed. Philip Guston: Que peindre sinon l'énigme. Translated by Éric Suchère. Strasbourg: L'Atelier Contemporain, 2023, mentioned in text p. 33, not illus.
Dunbar, Max. "The Daily Struggle: Philip Guston and American Art in the 1930s." PhD diss. Washington University in St. Louis, 2024, illus. in color Fig. 4.17 p. 236
Noah, Timothy. "The New Deal Masterpieces Threatened by Trump's D.C. Downsizing." New Republic, September 30, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Noah, Timothy. "There Was a Plan to Save These New Deal Masterpieces. Then Trump Won." New Republic, October 3, 2025. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Kim, Anne and Garrett Epps. "The New Deal Treasures Slated for Demolition." Washington Monthly (D.C.), October 14, 2025. Podcast, mentioned in text, not illus.
Okin, Mary, Dominique Bravo and Daniel Leckie. "Don't sell off America's New Deal art legacy." The Hill (Washington D.C.), November 8, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Benzine, Vittoria. "Preservationists Rally to Save Historic Building Filled With New Deal-Era Murals: The Wilbur J. Cohen building in Washington, D.C. houses fragile murals by Seymour Fogel, Philip Guston, and Ben Shahn." artnet News, November 11, 2025. Online, detail illus. in color and mentioned in text
Solomon, Tessa. "Preservationists Petition to Save Wilbur Building, the 'Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art'." ARTnews, November 12, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Murphy, John P. and Mary Okin. "The GSA is looking to shed the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building from its portfolio, but the art and architecture is worth saving." The Architect's Newspaper, November 25, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Murphy, John P. "Trump admin selling off historic public art to the highest bidder." AlterNet, November 30, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Noah, Timothy. "Can the 'Sistine Chapel of the New Deal' Be Saved From Trump?" New Republic, December 10, 2025. Online, illus. in color, detail illus. in color and mentioned in text
Jacobs, Harrison. "Trump May Demolish Historic D.C. Buildings With Priceless Murals by Philip Guston, Ben Shahn, and Other Artists." ARTnews, December 12, 2025. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Michigan, David. "Next target of trump's wrecking ball: Irreplaceable New Deal murals by Ben Shahn and others." Daily Kos, December 12, 2025. Online, illus. in color
Gelt, Jessica. "The Trump administration's imminent threat to historic New Deal art: L.A. arts and culture this weekend." Los Angeles Times, December 19, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Okin, Mary and Laura Katzman. "Nightmare before Christmas: The threat of demolition escalates at the Cohen Building in Washington D.C." The Architect's Newspaper, December 24, 2025. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Philip Guston: The Irony of History. Paris: Editions Gallimard, 2025, illus. no. 37 illus. in b&w p. 54-55 (of Musa standing in front of mural) and mentioned in text pp. 26 and 199
Philip Guston: L'Ironie de L'Histoire. Paris: Editions Gallimard, 2025, illus. no. 37 illus. in b&w p. 54-55 (of Musa standing in front of mural) and mentioned in text pp. 26 and 199
Short, Aaron. "Activists Fight to Salvage the 'Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art'." Hyperallergic, January 19, 2026. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Ables, Kelsey. "The stunning art trove hidden in a D.C. building marked by Trump for disposal." Washington Post, January 22, 2026. Online, illus. in color and in detail and mentioned in text
Di Liscia, Valentina. "Artists Call on Jewish Museum's Support to Save New Deal-Era Murals." Hyperallergic, January 23, 2026. Online, illus. in color
Miller, Leigh Anne. "Artists Urge Jewish Museum to Save Federal 'Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art' from Demolition in Open Letter." ARTnews, January 26, 2026. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Cotter, Holland. "It's Been Called the 'Sistine Chapel of the New Deal.' Don't Destroy It." New York Times, February 5, 2026. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Cotter, Holland. "Will Demolition Cranes Come After This Next?: A federal building full of New Deal-era murals is under threat." New York Times, February 7, 2026, pp. C1, C2, illus. in color p. C1 and mentioned in text p. C2
Jacobs, Harrison. "Senators Whitehouse and Schumer Call for 'Proactive Measures' to Protect Philip Guston and Ben Shahn Murals." ARTnews, March 13, 2026. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Shulevitz, Judith. "Masterpieces of the New." The Atlantic, April 9, 2026. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Art Digest. "Shahn Best of 375." November 15, 1940, p. 8, mentioned in text, not illus.
Hinkle, Karl. ''Artist Must Bridge Gap Between Artists and Public: Guston Expresses Sentiment of Today's Young American Painter." Daily Iowan, October 9, 1941, p. 4, mentioned in text, not illus.
Omaha World-Herald. "Gains Fame for Murals: Building at Capital Gets Work by Iowan." May 17, 1942, mentioned in text, not illus.
Iowa City Press-Citizen. "Guston Completes Mural Drawings." June 18, 1942, p. 11, b&w photo of Musa standing in front of mural
Daily Iowan. "South American Tour Planned for Drawings by Prof. Philip Guston." December 17, 1942, p. 3, mural drawings and the mural mentioned in text, not illus.
Iowa City Press-Citizen. "Midtown Galleries Oil Paintings, War Poster Exhibitions Are On Now," January 14, 1943, p. 9, mentioned in text, not illus.
Daily Iowan. "Prof. Philip Guston Completes Three Paneled Mural: Painting Will Be Placed in Washington Social Security Building." January 14, 1943, p. 3, illus. in b&w and described in text
Iowa City Press-Citizen. "Guston's Mural to Go to Washington." January 16, 1943, illus. in b&w
Davenport Democrat & Leader. "'Prof' Has Busy Week." January 21, 1943, b&w photo of Guston standing in front of mural.
Des Moines Sunday Register. "A Guston Painting." February 7, 1943, mentioned in text, not illus.
ARTnews. "Guston's Social Security Mural: Completed Despite War." March 1, 1943, p. 8, illus. in b&w
Watson, Jane. "Guston Mural Now on Social Security Wall." Washington Post, March 7, 1943, p. L4, illus. in b&w
Austin American. "2nd in Series of Exhibitions Opens Tuesday: Thon, Guston and Shulkin Work to Be Presented." July 30, 1944, mentioned in text, not illus.
ARTnews Annual. "Types—by American Artists." December 1, 1944, pp. 85-94, detail illus. in b&w p. 88
Smith, L'Louise. "Life's Interest, Life's Work—Guston Likes to Paint." Daily Iowan, May 23, 1945, p. 3, mentioned in text, not illus.
Ahlander, Leslie Judd. "Art in Washington: WPA Show Puts the Past in Focus." Post-Times Herald (Washington, D.C.), July 14, 1963, description of work (not listed by title) in text, not illus.
Moritz, Charles, ed. Current Biography, February 1971, pp. 10-13, mentioned in text p. 11, not illus.
Moritz, Charles, ed. Current Biography Yearbook 1971. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1971, pp. 176-178, mentioned in text p. 176, not illus.
O'Connor, Francis V., ed. The New Deal Art Projects: An Anthology of Memoirs. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1972, mentioned in text pp. 37 and 253-254, not illus.
O'Connor, Francis V., ed. "Philip Guston and Political Humanism." In Arts and Architecture in the Service of Politics, edited by Henry A. Milton and Linda Nochlin. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1978, Fig. 3 illus. in b&w p. 348 and mentioned in text pp. 345 and 349
Vishny, Michele. "On The Walls: Murals by Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, and Seymour Fogel for the Social Security Building, Washington D.C." Arts, March 1987, pp. 40-43, illus. p. 42
Shapiro, Michael Edward. "Philip Guston: The War Years." Print Collector's Newsletter, September–October 1994, mentioned in text p. 129, not illus.
Philip Guston Tableaux / Paintings 1947 - 1979. Exh. cat. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2000, mentioned in text p. 132, not illus.
Auping, Michael. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Philip Guston Retrospective. Exh. cat. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003, mentioned in text p. 28, not illus.
Auping, Michael. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Philip Guston Retrospective. Exh. cat. Hardcover ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003, mentioned in text p. 28 (Michael E. Shapiro essay), not illus.
Baskind, Samantha. Encyclopedia of Jewish American Artists. London: Greenwood Press, 2007, mentioned in text p. 137, not illus.
Botelho, Manuel. Guston em contexto: até ao regresso da figura. Lisbon: Livros Vendaval, 2007, mentioned in text p. 47, not illus.
Storr, Robert. Philip Guston: A Life Spent Painting. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2020, cartoon illus. in b&w p. 287 as part of a photo with Musa McKim and mentioned in text p. 22
Cooper, Harry, Mark Godfrey, Alison de Lima Greene, and Kate Nesin. Philip Guston Now. Exh. cat. Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2020, mentioned in text pp. 11, 22-23, 225 and 226, not illus.
Brooklyn Rail. "Reflections on Philip Guston Now." June 2023. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Brooklyn Rail. "Reflections on Philip Guston Now." June 2023, pp. 30-31, mentioned in text, not illus.
Coolidge, Clark, ed. Philip Guston: Que peindre sinon l'énigme. Translated by Éric Suchère. Strasbourg: L'Atelier Contemporain, 2023, mentioned in text p. 33, not illus.
Dunbar, Max. "The Daily Struggle: Philip Guston and American Art in the 1930s." PhD diss. Washington University in St. Louis, 2024, illus. in color Fig. 4.17 p. 236
Noah, Timothy. "The New Deal Masterpieces Threatened by Trump's D.C. Downsizing." New Republic, September 30, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Noah, Timothy. "There Was a Plan to Save These New Deal Masterpieces. Then Trump Won." New Republic, October 3, 2025. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Kim, Anne and Garrett Epps. "The New Deal Treasures Slated for Demolition." Washington Monthly (D.C.), October 14, 2025. Podcast, mentioned in text, not illus.
Okin, Mary, Dominique Bravo and Daniel Leckie. "Don't sell off America's New Deal art legacy." The Hill (Washington D.C.), November 8, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Benzine, Vittoria. "Preservationists Rally to Save Historic Building Filled With New Deal-Era Murals: The Wilbur J. Cohen building in Washington, D.C. houses fragile murals by Seymour Fogel, Philip Guston, and Ben Shahn." artnet News, November 11, 2025. Online, detail illus. in color and mentioned in text
Solomon, Tessa. "Preservationists Petition to Save Wilbur Building, the 'Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art'." ARTnews, November 12, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Murphy, John P. and Mary Okin. "The GSA is looking to shed the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building from its portfolio, but the art and architecture is worth saving." The Architect's Newspaper, November 25, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Murphy, John P. "Trump admin selling off historic public art to the highest bidder." AlterNet, November 30, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Noah, Timothy. "Can the 'Sistine Chapel of the New Deal' Be Saved From Trump?" New Republic, December 10, 2025. Online, illus. in color, detail illus. in color and mentioned in text
Jacobs, Harrison. "Trump May Demolish Historic D.C. Buildings With Priceless Murals by Philip Guston, Ben Shahn, and Other Artists." ARTnews, December 12, 2025. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Michigan, David. "Next target of trump's wrecking ball: Irreplaceable New Deal murals by Ben Shahn and others." Daily Kos, December 12, 2025. Online, illus. in color
Gelt, Jessica. "The Trump administration's imminent threat to historic New Deal art: L.A. arts and culture this weekend." Los Angeles Times, December 19, 2025. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Okin, Mary and Laura Katzman. "Nightmare before Christmas: The threat of demolition escalates at the Cohen Building in Washington D.C." The Architect's Newspaper, December 24, 2025. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Philip Guston: The Irony of History. Paris: Editions Gallimard, 2025, illus. no. 37 illus. in b&w p. 54-55 (of Musa standing in front of mural) and mentioned in text pp. 26 and 199
Philip Guston: L'Ironie de L'Histoire. Paris: Editions Gallimard, 2025, illus. no. 37 illus. in b&w p. 54-55 (of Musa standing in front of mural) and mentioned in text pp. 26 and 199
Short, Aaron. "Activists Fight to Salvage the 'Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art'." Hyperallergic, January 19, 2026. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Ables, Kelsey. "The stunning art trove hidden in a D.C. building marked by Trump for disposal." Washington Post, January 22, 2026. Online, illus. in color and in detail and mentioned in text
Di Liscia, Valentina. "Artists Call on Jewish Museum's Support to Save New Deal-Era Murals." Hyperallergic, January 23, 2026. Online, illus. in color
Miller, Leigh Anne. "Artists Urge Jewish Museum to Save Federal 'Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art' from Demolition in Open Letter." ARTnews, January 26, 2026. Online, mentioned in text, not illus.
Cotter, Holland. "It's Been Called the 'Sistine Chapel of the New Deal.' Don't Destroy It." New York Times, February 5, 2026. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Cotter, Holland. "Will Demolition Cranes Come After This Next?: A federal building full of New Deal-era murals is under threat." New York Times, February 7, 2026, pp. C1, C2, illus. in color p. C1 and mentioned in text p. C2
Jacobs, Harrison. "Senators Whitehouse and Schumer Call for 'Proactive Measures' to Protect Philip Guston and Ben Shahn Murals." ARTnews, March 13, 2026. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
Shulevitz, Judith. "Masterpieces of the New." The Atlantic, April 9, 2026. Online, illus. in color and mentioned in text
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Title
Reconstruction and the Well-Being of the Family (Social Security Triptych)
Date
1942
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
142 × 204 in. (360.7 × 518.2 cm)
Inscription
Signed front lower right: PHILIP GUSTON/ 1942
Catalogue Number
P42.003
Provenance
Courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration Commissioned through the Section of Fine Arts, 1934-1943, Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, Washington D.C.
Exhibitions
Bibliography
Downloads