The Bush, 1962, is characteristic of the ambitious group of large-scale abstractions Felrath Hines produced in the 1960s. A founding member of the Spiral Group, a Black artists’ collective formed in 1963, Felrath Hines was deeply committed to his personal language of abstraction. At this moment, when the Civil Rights movement dominated headlines, a central focus of the Spiral Group became the role of art and artists in social justice. Hines viewed the term “Black Art” as restrictive, and his form of abstraction was a radical departure from the modes of expression often expected from Black artists at the time—typically realistic paintings of African heritage and history.

Hines’ work of the 1960s is among his strongest, featuring large-scale canvases, masterful use of color, and layered brushwork rooted in historical Impressionist and Fauvist masters such as Claude Monet and Henri Matisse, yet are distinctly representative of the Abstract Expressionist era in which they were produced. In the present example, the irregular gestural passages, specifically in the overlapping purple and green mass in the lower register of the canvas, recall the work of fellow New York-based post-war artists Clyfford Still and Robert Motherwell. Though the work was painted sixty years ago, the fresh, remarkable condition of the oil painting is a testament to Hines’ nuanced understanding of the complexities of the medium and his meticulous approach to painting—skills Hines gleaned throughout his successful career as a conservator. Hines’ career included working as Georgia O’Keeffe’s personal paintings restorer, becoming the first Black Chief Conservator of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and the Chief Conservator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.