Guston Letters
Gina’s artist parents, Ralph and Martha “Leigh” Hyams, enjoyed a close friendship with Philip and Musa Guston. Here are letters and postcards he wrote to them from 1967 to 1976, including an original invitation to the opening of his pivotal 1970 exhibition at Marlborough Gallery in New York City, which they memorably flew up from Sarasota to attend. Click on the images to enlarge and see transcripts of the text.
![LETTER Postmark: October [hard to make out year, but contents makes it evident that it’s 1970], Woodstock, NY AIR MAIL Return address: PHILIP GUSTON BOX 660, WOODSTOCK NEW YORK 12498 Addressed to: Ralph & Martha Hyams 2001 Panama Drive Sar](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6392372a85850d2c1b309c38/1678467147603-QY2HHYLD73MGDJBUMHVE/IMG_5712.jpg)
![POSTCARD Postmark: 15.2.71, Roma Ferrovia VIA AEREA Addressed to: RALPH HYAMS 2001 PANAMA DRIVE SARASOTA, FLORIDA U.S.A. STATI UNITI Dear Marth [sic] & Ralph, This is a great & necessary vacation for us, seeing everything as if for the](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6392372a85850d2c1b309c38/1678467149639-LIOT5DW1Q6C2EG09AKSH/IMG_5717.jpg)
![LETTER Postmark: Oct 23, 1973, NY Return address: PHILIP GUSTON BOX 660, WOODSTOCK NEW YORK 12498 Addressed to: Marth [sic] & Ralph Hyams 2001 Panama Drive Sarasota, Florida 33580](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6392372a85850d2c1b309c38/1678467154079-1SWYWYNY3B0065BP2IWI/IMG_5726.jpg)
Martha “Leigh” Hyams with Philip Guston at New College Fine Arts Institute in Sarasota, Florida, 1966. She was his studio monitor. According to family lore, baby Gina was just out of the frame, napping in a basket under her mother’s easel. In the last letter, Guston notes that he prefers 10-year-old Gina’s drawing of a “creature with the moon” to Clyfford Still’s paintings. (Photographer unknown)
Ralph Hyams in Paris, early 1970s. (Photo by Martha Hyams)
