# Musa McKim > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Musa_McKim > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Musa_McKim.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_McKim > Source revision: 1328968545 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American painter and poet (1908–1992)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Musa McKim | image = Musa McKim.png | alt = Profile of the artist | caption = | birth_name = Musa Jane McKim{{Cite web |title=Philip Guston |url=https://www.philipguston.org/home/chronology |access-date=July 7, 2021 |website=www.philipguston.org}} | birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|8|23}} | birth_place = [Oil City, Pennsylvania](/source/Oil_City%2C_Pennsylvania), U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age |1992|3|30|1908|8|23}} | death_place = [Kingston, New York](/source/Kingston%2C_New_York), U.S. | spouse = [Philip Guston](/source/Philip_Guston) | family = [Josephine McKim](/source/Josephine_McKim) (sister) | known_for = Painting, poetry | alma_mater = [Otis Art Institute](/source/Otis_Art_Institute) }} '''Musa Jane McKim Guston''' ([née](/source/n%C3%A9e) '''McKim'''; August 23, 1908 – March 30, 1992) was an American painter and poet. Born in [Oil City, Pennsylvania](/source/Oil_City%2C_Pennsylvania), McKim spent much of her youth in [Panama](/source/Panama). During the [Great Depression](/source/Great_Depression), she worked under the [Section of Fine Arts](/source/Section_of_Fine_Arts), painting murals in public buildings, including [a Post Office building](/source/United_States_Post_Office_(Waverly%2C_New_York)) in [Waverly, New York](/source/Waverly%2C_Tioga_County%2C_New_York). She was the wife of [New York School](/source/New_York_School_(art)) artist [Philip Guston](/source/Philip_Guston), whom she met while attending the [Otis Art Institute](/source/Otis_Art_Institute). In cooperation with him, she painted a mural in a [United States Forest Service building](/source/Federal_Building_(Laconia%2C_New_Hampshire)) in [Laconia, New Hampshire](/source/Laconia%2C_New_Hampshire), and panels which were placed aboard [United States Maritime Commission](/source/United_States_Maritime_Commission) ships. After her painting career, she wrote poetry, publishing her work in small literary magazines. Along with her husband and daughter, she lived in [Iowa City, Iowa](/source/Iowa_City%2C_Iowa) and New York City, eventually settling in [Woodstock, New York](/source/Woodstock%2C_New_York). Her younger sister was Olympic swimmer [Josephine McKim](/source/Josephine_McKim) (1910-1992). == Art career == thumb|right|alt=A mural depicting a large bird and other wildlife|'Wildlife in White Mountain,' painted by McKim in 1941. A companion mural was painted in the same location by her husband, Philip Guston McKim studied at the [Otis Art Institute](/source/Otis_Art_Institute). She worked as a painter under the [Section of Fine Arts](/source/Section_of_Fine_Arts), creating murals in public places during the [Great Depression](/source/Great_Depression).{{cite news|date=1992-04-02|title=Musa McKim Guston, A Poet and Painter, 83|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/02/obituaries/musa-mckim-guston-a-poet-and-painter-83.html|newspaper=[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)|access-date=2014-12-29}} She was commissioned to paint a mural for the [Post Office branch building](/source/United_States_Post_Office_(Waverly%2C_New_York)) in [Waverly, New York](/source/Waverly%2C_Tioga_County%2C_New_York) 1939.{{cite web|url=http://www.wpamurals.com/newyork.htm|title=New York New Deal Art|access-date=2014-12-26|archive-date=2013-09-02|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130902154348/http://www.wpamurals.com/newyork.htm|url-status=dead}} Entitled 'Spanish Hill and the Early Inhabitants of the Vicinity,' the work depicts [Native Americans](/source/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States) as well as early settlers to the region. The appearance of the settlers was based on members of McKim's family, including her father, Frederick McKim and her mother, Musa Hunter McKim.{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=29}} Her daughter, Musa Mayer (née Guston), noted that McKim's sister [Josephine](/source/Josephine_McKim) is not depicted, although she suggests that the "spirited black horse their mother struggles to control" could be a symbolic representation of her.{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=29}} For her work, she was paid $650 by the Section of Fine Arts.{{cite journal|last=O'Connor|first=Francis V.|date=1969|title=The New Deal Art Projects in New York|jstor=i271769|journal=American Art Journal|volume=1|issue=2|page=72|doi=10.2307/1593876}} According to Mayer, McKim disliked the mural.{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=29}} In 1941, she worked alongside her husband in the painting of two murals for the [U.S. Forest Service building](/source/Federal_Building_(Laconia%2C_New_Hampshire)) in [Laconia, New Hampshire](/source/Laconia%2C_New_Hampshire).{{sfn|Ashton|1990|p=xiii}} Commissioned by the Section of Fine Arts, the murals are titled 'Pulp Wood Logging' and 'Wildlife in White Mountain.'{{cite web| url=http://www.gsa.gov/portal/ext/html/site/hb/category/25431/actionParameter/exploreByBuilding/buildingId/769| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024065436/http://www.gsa.gov/portal/ext/html/site/hb/category/25431/actionParameter/exploreByBuilding/buildingId/769| url-status=dead| archive-date=October 24, 2012| title=Federal Building, Laconia, NH| publisher=U.S. General Services Administration| access-date=2015-01-01}} The former, a logging scene, was executed by Philip, while the latter, depicting local wildlife, was painted by Musa.{{cite web| url=http://newdealartregistry.org/rendersites/Laconia/NH/| title=Laconia Forestry Building| publisher=New Deal Art Agency| access-date=2015-01-01}} In a 1965 interview, Philip stated that Musa "did several other murals for the Section of Fine Arts."{{cite web| url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-philip-guston-12053| title=Oral history interview with Philip Guston, 1965 Jan. 29| website=Archives of American Art| access-date=2015-01-02}} In addition to her other work, she and her husband were employed by the [United States Maritime Commission](/source/United_States_Maritime_Commission) to paint a series of panels which were to be installed in three cargo ships: the [USS ''President Monroe''](/source/USS_President_Monroe_(AP-104)), the [USS ''President Jackson''](/source/USS_President_Jackson_(APA-18)) and the [USS ''President Hayes''](/source/USS_President_Hayes_(APA-20)).{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=28}} Guston posed for her husband throughout his career for various works, including a 1944 painting entitled ''The Young Mother'', for which she sat along with their daughter, also named Musa.{{cite web| url=http://uima.uiowa.edu/philip-guston/| title=Philip Guston (American, born in Canada 1913–1980)| website=University of Iowa Museum of Art}} == Writing career == After her painting career, McKim wrote poetry; her work was published in small literary journals, including the experimental poetry journal ''[Locus Solus](/source/Locus_Solus_(journal))''.{{cite book|last=McKim|first=Musa|title=Alone with the Moon: Selected Writings of Musa McKim|year=1994|publisher=The Figures|isbn=0-935724-67-2|at=[colophon](/source/Colophon_(publishing))}} In 1982, her poetry was published alongside Guston's artwork in the Summer edition of ''[The Harvard Advocate](/source/The_Harvard_Advocate)''.{{cite journal| last=Sieburth| first=Richard| title=Retrospect: The 1982 Advocate Translation Issue| journal=The Harvard Advocate| date=2008| volume=Winter}} In 1994, a posthumous collection of McKim's poetry, 'Alone with the Moon', was published with an introduction by U.S. Poet Laureate [Stanley Kunitz](/source/Stanley_Kunitz). == Personal life == McKim was born on August 23, 1908, in [Oil City, Pennsylvania](/source/Oil_City%2C_Pennsylvania). She spent much of her young life in [Panama](/source/Panama), as her father Frederick was employed as a civil servant in the [Canal Zone](/source/Panama_Canal_Zone). He conducted anthropological studies of the indigenous [Guna people](/source/Guna_people).{{cite book|last=McKim|first=Musa|title=Alone with the Moon: Selected Writings of Musa McKim|year=1994|publisher=The Figures|isbn=0-935724-67-2|page=9}} In 1930, she met her future husband, [abstract expressionist](/source/abstract_expressionist) [New York School](/source/New_York_School_(art)) painter [Philip Guston](/source/Philip_Guston) (then Phillip Goldstein) while attending the Otis Art Institute.{{cite web| url=http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=2419| title=Philip Guston (American, born Canada. 1913-1980)| last=Brookeman| first=Christopher| website=Museum of Modern Art| date=2009| publisher=Oxford University Press}} She later left the institute and returned to Panama. She sent a letter to the [Stanley Rose Book Shop](/source/Stanley_Rose), a Hollywood gathering place of artists, inquiring as to the address of Phillip Goldstein.{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=20}} Fellow painter [Herman Cherry](/source/Herman_Cherry) gave the letter to Goldstein, he replied, and McKim returned to Los Angeles to live with him soon after.{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=20}} He changed his name to Philip Guston in 1935, and in 1936, at the urging of [Jackson Pollock](/source/Jackson_Pollock), whom Philip met and befriended while attending [Manual Arts High School](/source/Manual_Arts_High_School), he and Musa moved to New York City.{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=21}} They married on February 4, 1937, in [New York City Hall](/source/New_York_City_Hall).{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=27}} The ceremony was witnessed by [Sande McCoy](/source/Sande_McCoy), Pollock's half-brother.{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=27}} In 1940, they moved to the [artist colony](/source/artist_colony) of [Woodstock, New York](/source/Woodstock%2C_New_York).{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=32}} The next year, in the fall of 1941, Philip accepted a position as [artist-in-residence](/source/artist-in-residence) at the [University of Iowa](/source/University_of_Iowa) in [Iowa City](/source/Iowa_City%2C_Iowa).{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=32}} Their daughter, Musa Jane Guston, was born there in 1943.{{sfn|Ashton|1990|p=xiv}} Later, in 1945, Philip accepted a position at [Washington University](/source/Washington_University_in_St._Louis) in [St. Louis](/source/St._Louis).{{sfn|Ashton|1990|p=xiv}} In 1947, the family returned to New York, living in the [Byrdcliffe Colony](/source/Byrdcliffe_Colony); they settled in nearby Woodstock once again in 1948.{{sfn|Mayer|1990|pp=38–39}} In 1949, following a brief stay in [Rome](/source/Rome), Musa and Philip Guston began commuting between Woodstock and New York City, where the latter opened a studio.{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=48}} In 1967, they left New York City to live permanently in Woodstock.{{sfn|Mayer|1990|p=59}} In October 1970, they moved to Rome, after Philip's recent gallery show received severe criticism.{{cite news| last=Cudlin| first=Jeffry| date=2011-02-18| title=In "Philip Guston: Roma," an artist communes with himself by channeling the masters| url=http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/40417/life-in-ruins-philip-guston-roma-at-the-phillips-collection| newspaper=Washington City Paper| access-date=2014-12-30}} They lived at the [American Academy in Rome](/source/American_Academy_in_Rome) while Philip added works to his gallery, until May 1971, when they returned to New York. Philip died on June 7, 1980.{{sfn|Ashton|1990|p=xvi}} Musa lived in Woodstock for the remainder of her life, dying on March 30, 1992, aged 83, in [Kingston](/source/Kingston%2C_New_York). == References == {{reflist|30em}} == Bibliography == {{refbegin}} *{{cite book|last=Ashton|first=Dore|title=A Critical Study of Philip Guston|location=Berkeley|publisher=[University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press)|url=http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft4x0nb2f0/|date=1990|isbn=0520069323}} *{{cite book|last=Mayer|first=Musa|title=Night Studio: A Memoir of Philip Guston|date=1990|publisher=[Penguin Books](/source/Penguin_Books)|isbn=0-14-013320-8}} {{refend}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Mckim, Musa}} Category:1908 births Category:1992 deaths Category:People from Oil City, Pennsylvania Category:Artists from Woodstock, New York Category:Otis College of Art and Design alumni Category:20th-century American poets Category:Artists from Pennsylvania Category:Writers from New York (state) Category:Writers from Pennsylvania Category:Section of Painting and Sculpture artists Category:20th-century American women painters Category:20th-century American painters Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty Category:20th-century American women poets --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Musa McKim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_McKim) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_McKim?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.