Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston

Contemporary Black artist Trenton Doyle Hancock responds to the provocative images of twentieth-century Jewish painter Philip Guston

A defining figure of the New York School, Philip Guston (1913-1980) frequently alluded to racism, antisemitism, and fascism in his work. In the 1960s and 1970s, Guston, who often grappled with his Jewish identity and assimilation into American culture, controversially portrayed himself as a cartoonish Klansman to deflate the power of the Klan’s hateful symbolism, as well as to acknowledge his own complicity in white supremacy.

Trenton Doyle Hancock (b. 1974) is a leading contemporary artist who has looked to Guston as a source of inspiration for nearly three decades. In 2014 Hancock created a series of drawings that interweaves Guston’s biography, Hancock’s family history, and the history of lynching in Hancock’s hometown, and introduces Hancock’s avatar, a Black superhero named Torpedoboy who confronts Guston’s hooded alter ego.

In bringing together these two trailblazing artists from different generations, this volume situates Guston’s and Hancock’s works in their social and political contexts and explores the way that art, activism, and humor can deepen our understanding of the Black and Jewish experiences in the United States. The book also features Hancock in conversation with curator Valerie Cassel Oliver and award-winning author and cartoonist Art Spiegelman.

Published in association with the Jewish Museum, New York

Exhibition Schedule:

Jewish Museum, New York
(November 8, 2024-March 30, 2025)

Rebecca Shaykin is associate curator at the Jewish Museum, New York. She is the author of Edith Halpert, the Downtown Gallery, and the Rise of American Art, a New York Times best art book of 2019 and recipient of a National Jewish Book Award.