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Philip Guston was born June 27, 1913 in Montreal, Canada. Early in his childhood Guston's family moved to Los Angeles, California. When Guston was only 10 years he suffered a tragedy that would effect the rest of his life. Guston discovered his father's lifeless body after he had hung himself in their storage shed. This event extremely effected the young Guston and coincidentally soon after began to express himself through painting. 

Guston began art instruction at the Los Angeles Manual Arts High School in 1927 when he was 14. In class Guston met lifelong friend and contemporary Jackson Pollock.

In school Guston's the majority of his paintings were figurative. In addition to his time spent in school Guston would draw people around his neighborhood and his mother. Guston was expelled from Manual Arts High School after writing an article for the school paper with friend Jackson Pollock that opposed the schools emphasis on sports over art.

He did not try to reenter the school and instead he went to Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles on a 1 year scholarship. Dissatisfied with his experience at in school Guston did not reapply after his 1 year scholarship had ended. He did not agree with the approach taken by his teachers in school and relied predominantly on teaching himself.

At the age of 18 Guston was asked to paint an indoor mural for the John Reed Club in Los Angeles. He accepted the challenge and painted a scene of the famous Scottsboro Boys civil rights case. The controversial mural was sadly destroyed by local police officers who objected. This incident would have a profound effect on Guston's social perception.

In 1934 Guston accompanied his friend Rueben Kadish to Mexico to paint an 1,000 square foot Mural on the wall of the former Palace of Emperor Maximilian in the capital of Morelia. They created a huge mural, The Struggle Against Terror, with an antifascist message. Their mural received great acclaim granted both artists significant recognition in the art world. While south of the border Guston made sure to spend time with fellow artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. In 1935 Guston moved to New York with many of his fellow artists and joined the WPA program painting murals for the government. While working for the WPA he married fellow WPA member Musa Mckim. They would collaborate many WPA murals together during their time with the organization. 

Guston had his first solo exhibition in 1944. He began teaching at New York University and Pratt Institute. He also held graduate seminars at the Boston University. He was though of as a very inspirational instructor. 

At the start of the 1950's Guston became less interested in representational work and more interested in the possibilities of abstract expressionism. He attained success during this period as a first-generation abstract expressionist painter. His new paintings consisted of large gesturally worked masses of color contrasting with apposing masses and brushwork within the picture. However, as he continued to delve deeper into abstraction he found it less and less fulfilling. 

In the latter half of the 1960's Guston moved to Woodstock, New York and began to paint representational works once more. Thanks to his new outlook from his experiences as an abstract artist Guston did not return to direct representation. His figures now appeared cartoonish and otherworldly. An exhibit was held to show his new figuration paintings in 1970 at the Marlborough Gallery in New York and it was not received well. Guston received lots of negative criticism for his new approach and his contract with the Marlborough Gallery wasn't renewed. This drove him into a deep isolation in his home in Woodstock and he went for a period with no art dealer. He later joined the new David Mckee Gallery which he stayed with until his death. From his isolation Guston's work began to be more image based in relation to pop culture as well as social, racial, and political issues. Guston is best known for these paintings created towards the end of his career. He died June 7th, 1980 in his Woodstock home.

If This Be Not I

Pierre Bonnard was born October 3, 1867 in Fontenay aux Roses, France. Throughout his childhood and early adult life he was encouraged, by his father, to study law. While completing his law degree at the University, Bonnard was also took art classes at the local art school. He fell in love with painting and devote himself to being an artist.

In the late 1880's, Bonnard moved to Paris to further his career. He befriended Toulouse-Lautrec in 1891, which would open many doors for the young Bonnard. Around this time Bonnard began to participate in many group shows and other various extracurriculars of the art community in Paris. It was only a matter of time before he met fellow emerging French artist Édouard Vuillard. The two of them began working together designing covers for La Revue Blanche, a prominent French pop culture magazine of the late 19th century. Bonnard's first solo show was held in 1896 at the Galerie Durand-Ruel located in Paris.

After his first solo exhibit Bonnard along with Vuillard turned away from the popular impressionistic style of the time and began the Les Nabis movement with their contemporary Maurice Denis. The Les Nabis focused on creating symbolic or spiritual natured pieces drawing influence from japanese prints, Art Nouveau, and post-impressionist ideals. In 1910 he left Paris for the country side in the south of France. Many Les Nabis artists preferred the lush landscapes and the slower pace of the southern countryside as apposed to the expanding hustle and bustle of city life. Bonnard preferred the solitude of the country to the busy city.

A huge exhibit was held at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1938 to showcased his large body of work alongside Vuillard's. Bonnard continued paint up until the end of his life. He finished his last painting, The Almond Tree in Blossom, one week prior to his death in January of 1947, in his small cottage in the French Riviera. That same year a large retrospective was held in Paris to commemorate Bonnard and the Museum of Modern Art in New York put together an enormous retrospective that was held the following year in 1948.

Bonnard was well known and highly respected in the art world for his bold use of color and implementing complex composition structures into his work. Most of his subject matter is landscapes, urban scenes, and portraits, but throughout his whole career Bonnard's wife was often the subject of his work. Bonnard's process differed from other artists of his time because he did not paint from direct observation. He would go out on walk and sketch his surroundings or make loose doodles of the subject matter he wanted to paint; really observing it in the moment. Then he would go back to his studio and paint from a combination of his sketches and memory. This allowed him to create more colorful dynamic compositions which gave his work more of memory or dream-like quality making it very easy for the viewer to relate.

By Christian Franzen

Nude in Bath

Photos Thomas Green

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2. Blue Angel - Everybody's Got An Angel

3. Johnny Burnette - That's All I Care

4. Alan Jackson - Chasin That Neon Rainbow

5. Shannon & The Clams - The Rabbits Nose

6. Leslie Gore - Struck A Match

7. The Krew Kats - Diggedle Boeing

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10. Bloodshot Bill - She's My Baby

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12. Johnny Tillotson - Without You

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14. Hilary Duff - The Math

15. Tammy Wynette - Womanhood

     Joan Mitchell was born February 12th 1925 in Chicago, Illinois. She lived in Chicago until she went to attend Smith College in Massachusetts. She was only at Smith for a short while before transferring back to Chicago to attend the Art Institute from which she would earn her BFA in 1947 and then her MFA in 1950. During her time a the Art Institute she also studied with Hans Hofmann for a short period until she received a travel grant of $2,000 which allowed her to study in Paris and Provence for two years. This study in France would ignite a love for France that stayed with Mitchell all her life.

     While Abroad Mitchell married the American publisher Barney Rosset in 1949. They divorced shortly after in 1952. Throughout the 1950's Mitchell was a very active member in the New York art scene and apart of the group of second generation abstract expressionist painters. In 1955 she moved to France where she painted a great deal and developed a long lasting relationship with a Canadian painter named Jean-Paul Riopelle.

Mitchell is looked upon as a key figure and one of the handful of women artists of the abstract expressionist movement and the 1950's New York School. Her paintings are often very large and influenced by landscape and reaction to landscape. A big admirer of Matisse, her work also frequently deals with the use of color in creating harmonious, juxtaposing, or structural compositions.

     In the later years of her life Mitchell's health went into decline. Still living in France, in 1984 she was diagnosed with oral cancer. This set her into a state of depression and she began to substitute her heavy smoking habit with a bad drinking habit. She was later diagnosed with osteoarthritis and underwent a relatively unsuccessful hip replacement surgery. In October of 1992, Mitchell flew back to New York to see the Matisse exhibit held at the MOMA. After her arrival in New York she was sent to the hospital where after many tests she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She returned to Paris after the exhibit and was hospitalized again. Mitchell died on October 30th, 1992 in the American Hospital of Paris.

By Christian Franzen