The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (211 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists
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Guillaumin , Armand
(1841–1927).
French landscape painter, one of the minor figures of the
Impressionist
group. Lack of success made him take a post with the department of bridges and causeways until he won a lottery in 1891 and was able to devote all his time to painting. Often his paintings are of industrial subjects, but he also painted seascapes. His style was bold and direct, often brilliantly coloured. He was the last survivor of those who exhibited in the first
Impressionist
exhibition in 1874.
gum
.
A sticky liquid exuded by certain trees and shrubs, various types of which have been used as painting
media
from ancient times. Gum is the normal medium of
watercolour
paints and
pastel
, and since it readily emulsifies with oil it has long been a medium in
tempera
.
Gunn , Sir James
(1893–1964).
British portrait painter. Gunn enjoyed a successful career with portraits of eminent soldiers, academics, judges, and so on, painted in a solid, forthright, traditional style. He was a more interesting painter in less traditional work, notably his portrait of the blind composer Delius (City Art Gallery, Bradford), which was the public's choice as ‘Picture of the Year’ at the
Royal Academy
in 1933. Also well known is Gunn's
Conversation Piece at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, 1950
(NPG, London), showing George VI, Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother), and Princesses Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Margaret .
Günther , Ignaz
(1725–75).
Bavarian sculptor. After a varied training culminating in some years at the Vienna Academy he settled in Munich in 1754. His short career was productive of a considerable quantity of woodcarving combining a very elegant
Rococo
style with a highly emotional religious content. In 1759–62 he produced his chief work, the almost entire furnishing of the church at Rott-am-Inn.
Guston , Philip
(1913–80).
American painter. After travelling in Mexico in 1934, studying the work of
Orozco
and
Rivera
in particular, he settled in New York and from 1934 to 1941 worked as a muralist on the
Federal Art Project
. In 1941 he moved to lowa City to teach at the State University there, and from 1945 to 1947 he was artist-in-residence at Washington University, St Louis. After leaving New York he switched from mural to easel painting, and during the 1940s his work changed in another fundamental way, moving from social and political subjects to abstraction; by 1950 (when, after travels in Europe, he settled in New York again) he had eliminated all figurative elements from his work. His most characteristic paintings feature luminous patches of overlapping colours delicately brushed in the central area of a canvas of light background (
Dial
, Whitney Museum, New York, 1956). This manner of his has been described as ‘Abstract Impressionism’ and he was associated with the more lyrical wing of
Abstract Expressionism
—he was the only member of the group who had already had a successful career as a figurative painter. During the 1960s shades of grey encroached on the earlier brilliance of colour and vague naturalistic associations crept in, until in the 1970s he returned to figurative painting in a satirical, garishly coloured, cartoon-like style that has been seen as the source of
New Image Painting
. His subjects in this manner included scenes of fantastic social comment, involving, for example, the Ku Klux Klan.
Gütersloh , Albert Paris
.

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