12 Facts About Musa McKim

Musa McKim was the wife of New York School artist Philip Guston, whom she met while attending the Otis Art Institute.

Musa McKim worked as a painter under the Section of Fine Arts, creating murals in public places during the Great Depression.

Musa McKim was commissioned to paint a mural for the Post Office branch building in Waverly, New York 1939.

Musa McKim was born on August 23,1908, in Oil City, Pennsylvania.

Musa McKim spent much of her young life in Panama, as her father Frederick was employed as a civil servant in the Canal Zone.

Musa McKim conducted anthropological studies of the indigenous Kuna people.

Musa McKim later left the institute and returned to Panama.

Musa McKim sent a letter to the Stanley Rose Book Shop, a Hollywood gathering place of artists, inquiring as to the address of Phillip Goldstein.

Fellow painter Herman Cherry gave the letter to Goldstein, he replied, and Musa McKim returned to Los Angeles to live with him soon after.

Musa McKim changed his name to Philip Guston in 1935, and in 1936, at the urging of Jackson Pollock, whom Philip met and befriended while attending Manual Arts High School, he and Musa moved to New York City.

Musa McKim lived in Woodstock for the remainder of her life, dying in Kingston on March 30,1992, at the age of 83.

Alone With The Moon: Selected Writings of Musa McKim was published by The Figures Press in 1994.