Guston completed this mural with his wife, Musa McKim. It is remarkable that he decided to take this commission even though he had a steady income at the University of Iowa.
Guston won this prestigious commission for the mural on the facade of the Works Progress Administration building at the 1939 New York World's Fair in Queens.
This mural was painted in Morelia, Mexico with Reuben Kadish. Jules Langser was their assistant. They received the commission with the help of David Alfaro Siquieros and Diego Rivera.
This is a drawing made in preparation for a larger painting, which is now lost. Guston was just 17 years old and had recently been expelled from Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles.