of the coronavirus was best delayed "until a time at which we think that the powerful message of social and racial justice … can be more clearly interpreted." Public response led to a "deluge of criticism from inside the art world," as well as major articles in New York magazine, The New York Times, CNN, Artforum, Tablet, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. The most scathing response was collective, and organized in an open letter, published online by The Brooklyn Rail. The letter featured a "list of signatories [that] reads like a roll call of the most accomplished American artists alive: old and young, white and Black, local and expat, painters and otherwise," including Matthew Barney, Nicole Eisenman, Charles Gaines, Ellen Gallagher, Wade Guyton, Rachel Harrison, Joan Jonas, Julie Mehretu, Adrian Piper, Pope.L, Martin Puryear, Amy Sillman, Lorna Simpson, Henry Taylor, and Christopher Williams." Strongly criticizing the museums' lack of courage to display the work, attempt to interpret it, or come to terms with the institutions' own "history of prejudice," the signers unanimously described the exhibition as a timely prompt for a "reckoning" — writing that's why it must proceed as scheduled. As of October 3, 2020, more than 2,000 artists had signed the letter, but the exhibition organizers did not respond until they rescheduled the exhibition for dates beginning in 2022. Philip Guston Now opened at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on May 1, 2022. Popular culture In "Cat and Girl versus Contemporary Art," part of the Cat and Girl webcomic series, author Dorothy Gambrell critiques the difficulty and purpose of finding the meaning behind art using Guston's iconic Head and Bottle painting. Auction record In May 2013, Christie's set an auction record for the artist's work To Fellini, which sold for US$25.8 million. See also Boston Expressionism Max Beckmann Morton Feldman – the composer frequently drew inspiration from Guston's abstract expressionist work (including in the four-hour chamber composition For Philip Guston) Red Grooms Claes Oldenburg Jean Dubuffet References Further reading Arnason, H. Harvard. Philip Guston. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1962. Auping, Michael. Philip Guston: Retrospective (Thames & Hudson, 2006). Botelho, Manuel. Guston em contexto: até ao regresso da figura. Lisbon: Livros Vendaval, 2007. Bucklow, Christopher. What is in the Dwat. The Universe of Guston's Final Decade (The Wordsworth Trust, 2007) Burnett, Craig. Philip Guston: The Studio. (London and Cambridge, MA: Afterall Books