In the 1930s, Philip Guston's art was deeply political and engaged with societal issues, reflecting a period of great turmoil and change in his life and in the wider world. Early in his career, Guston, born Phillip Goldstein in 1913 in Montreal, Canada, was profoundly affected by his family's struggles and the societal racism he encountered upon moving to the United States. This period was marked by his father's suicide and Guston's subsequent retreat into the world of drawing and comics, which laid the groundwork for his lifelong engagement with art​ (The Art Story)​. Guston's work in the 1930s was characterized by his participation in politically charged mural projects, influenced by his leftist political leanings and his connections to the communist-affiliated John Reed Club of Los Angeles. One of his early activist efforts was a mural created in 1932 with Reuben Kadish, aimed at supporting the Scottsboro Boys, nine Black teenagers falsely accused of rape. This mural was defaced by local police forces, a violent act against art and political expression that no doubt impacted Guston's views on the power and reception of political art​ (Wikipedia)​. His trip to Mexico in 1934 with Kadish and poet Jules Langsner was pivotal, leading to the commission of a large mural, "The Struggle Against Terror," in Morelia, Mexico. This mural displayed antifascist themes and was heavily influenced by the work of prominent Mexican muralist David Siqueiros. The experience in Mexico, where he also met Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, deeply influenced Guston's art, embedding a lifelong symbol of bigotry in the hooded figures that he would revisit in his later works​ (Wikipedia)​. Upon moving to New York in 1935, Guston began working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a key part of Roosevelt's New Deal program. This period saw Guston creating several public murals that contained strong references to Renaissance painters as well as American Regionalists and Mexican muralists. His work during this time reflected a blend of social consciousness with a deep engagement with art history, a theme that would continue throughout his career​ (Wikipedia)​. Despite the political and social engagement of his work in the 1930s, Guston's art underwent significant transformations over the decades. His later return to figuration in the 1960s, characterized by cartoonish, enigmatic figures, including the Klansmen, can be seen as a continuation of his early political murals, albeit through a different lens. Guston's work remains a profound exploration of the human condition, societal injustices, and the role of the artist in society​ (The Art Story)​​ (Philip Guston)​. Philip Guston's art from the 1930s lays a critical foundation for understanding his entire body of work. It showcases his early commitment to addressing political and social themes, a commitment that would ebb, flow, and transform but never fully wane throughout his career.