Philip Guston's socially conscious 1940s drawings of the downtrodden and their hooded tormentors evolved into searching, tender abstractions in the '50s, spare graphics in the '60s, and galumphing, cartoonish narratives in the '70s. This terrific show concisely charts how concentrated bouts of drawing re-energized the artist's broadly influential paintings. At age 13, Guston (1913–1980) was studying at Cleveland's School of Cartooning, but he was soon in thrall to such Renaissance masters as Giotto and Masaccio. This mix of low and high oscillated throughout his career—the rock-ribbed compositions of early street scenes that imagined kids battling with wooden swords and garbage-can lids... More >>>