Skip to content

Felrath Hines

A Personal Pursuit

November 15, 2024 – January 11, 2025

Felrath Hines, Three Figures, 1947, Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 in., Signed and dated, lower right. Three female cubist figures are set behind a small floral arrangement, looking directly at the viewer. Felrath Hines worked to create universal visual idioms from a place of complex personal experience. Hines’s figurative and cubist-style artwork morphed into soft-edged organic abstracts as he grappled with hues in his chosen oil medium.

Three Figures, 1947

Oil on canvas

36 x 30 inches
Frame: 45 x 39 inches

Signed and dated lower right

Felrath Hines, Totem, 1950, Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in., Signed and dated, lower right. Cubist figures at the forefront of the composition, the right one mostly blue, and the left one pink, purple and green create totem poles. Felrath Hines worked to create universal visual idioms from a place of complex personal experience. Hines’s figurative and cubist-style artwork morphed into soft-edged organic abstracts as he grappled with hues in his chosen oil medium.

Totem, 1950

Oil on canvas

30 x 24 inches

Frame: 39 1/4 x 33 inches

Signed and dated lower right

Still Life, 1957

Still Life, 1957
Oil on canvas
6 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches
Frame: 10 1/8 x 12 5/8 inches
Signed and dated lower right

Felrath Hines, Pond, Oil on canvas. Abstract painting with organic shapes and natural earth tones. Felrath Hines worked to create universal visual idioms from a place of complex personal experience. His figurative and cubist-style artwork morphed into soft-edged organic abstracts as he grappled with hues in his chosen oil medium.

Pond, 1958

Oil on canvas 

36 x 24 inches

Frame: 42 1/2 x 30 1/4 inches 

Signed lower right

Signed, titled, and dated on the verso 

Felrath Hines, Flowers, 1961, Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches, Abstract painting of flowers with soft painterly grey background and darker grey and red organic flower petal shapes. Felrath Hines worked to create universal visual idioms from a place of complex personal experience. His figurative and cubist-style artwork morphed into soft-edged organic abstracts as he grappled with hues in his chosen oil medium.

Flowers, 1961 

Oil on canvas 

20 x 24 inches

Signed on the verso 

Landscape, 1963 Oil on canvas

Landscape, 1963
Oil on canvas
60 x 36 inches
Frame: 66 x 42 1/4 inches
Signed on the verso

Felrath Hines, Landscape, 1965, Oil on canvas, 60 x 60 inches. Abstract work with organic flat strokes and muted blue and orange tones. Felrath Hines worked to create universal visual idioms from a place of complex personal experience. His figurative and cubist-style artwork morphed into soft-edged organic abstracts as he grappled with hues in his chosen oil medium.

Landscape, 1965

Oil on canvas 

60 x 60 inches
Frame: 66 1/2 x 66 1/2 inches
Signed on the verso

Felrath Hines, Beige Green, 1968, Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches. Canvas split in half organically between two hues of green. Felrath Hines worked to create universal visual idioms from a place of complex personal experience. His figurative and cubist-style artwork morphed into soft-edged organic abstracts as he grappled with hues in his chosen oil medium.

Beige Green, 1968

Oil on canvas 

36 x 48 inches

Signed

Felrath Hines, Untitled, 1970s,  Oil on canvas,  26 x 40 inches. Dark canvas with geometric shapes. Felrath Hines worked to create universal visual idioms from a place of complex personal experience. His figurative and cubist-style artwork morphed into soft-edged organic abstracts as he grappled with hues in his chosen oil medium.

Untitled, 1970's 

Oil on canvas 

26 x 40 inches

Signed

Felrath Hines, Landscape with Ochre Stripe, 1971, Oil on canvas,  50 x 40 inches. Geometric, vertical shapes in muted earth tones; blue, orange and hunter green. Felrath Hines worked to create universal visual idioms from a place of complex personal experience. His figurative and cubist-style artwork morphed into soft-edged organic abstracts as he grappled with hues in his chosen oil medium.

Landscape with Ochre Stripe, 1971

Oil on canvas 

50 x 40 inches 
Signed

Untitled (Large Grays), 1971  Oil on canvas   66 x 78 inches

Untitled (Large Grays), 1971

Oil on canvas 

66 x 78 inches 
Signed

Felrath Hines, Untitled, 1979, Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches. Geometric and overlapping squares in earthy tan and beige colors. Felrath Hines worked to create universal visual idioms from a place of complex personal experience. His figurative and cubist-style artwork morphed into soft-edged organic abstracts as he grappled with hues in his chosen oil medium.

Untitled, 1979

Oil on canvas 

24 x 20 inches
Signed

Pyramid, 1983, Oil on canvas

Pyramid, 1983

Oil on canvas

48 x 50 inches

Signed

Over the Hill, 1984, Monotype

Over the Hill, 1984

Monotype

18 x 24 inches

Signed and dated upper right

Floating Rectangle, 1984, Oil on canvas

Floating Rectangle, 1984

Oil on canvas

26 x 39 inches
Frame: 31 x 43 inches

Signed

Felrath Hines, Accent, 1985, Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inches. Light blue canvas with dark blue and white geometric triangular shapes. Felrath Hines worked to create universal visual idioms from a place of complex personal experience. His figurative and cubist-style artwork morphed into soft-edged organic abstracts as he grappled with hues in his chosen oil medium.

Accent,1985

Oil on canvas 

30 x 36 inches

Signed on the verso

Tropic Night, 1989  Oil on canvas   26 x 26 inches

Tropic Night, 1989

Oil on canvas 

26 x 26 inches 
Frame: 27 x 26 3/4 iches

Signed on the verso

Mahler, 1992, Oil on canvas

Mahler, 1992

Oil on canvas

58 x 64 inches
Frame: 58 5/8 x 64 5/8 inches

Signed, titled, and dated on the verso

Press Release

Felrath Hines: A Personal Pursuit consists of nineteen works, spanning from 1947-1992 in an effort to contextualize how his exposure through his conservation work to different methods and materials affected his personal practice. This exhibition surveys his career for the first time since the Ackland Art Museum’s 2010 retrospective in North Carolina. Hines’ career can be characterized by his never-ending exploration, experimentation, and shifting aesthetic.  

Felrath Hines (1913-1993) believed that painting was, above all else, a personal pursuit. It was something that should exist outside of societal, political, and racial expectations. As an African American artist, Hines was expected to produce realist works that conformed to a stereotype of “black art” that had emerged in the early twentieth century. Although Hines was committed to the struggle for civil rights, he was equally committed to pursuing whatever artistic style he desired. 

Hines was a member of the Spiral collective (1963-1965), formed at Romare Bearden’s studio for the purpose of allowing black artists a space and community to discuss the civil rights movement as well as the role of art in political activism. Hines, however, had little interest in depicting black subjects. He considered his views on politics and his artistic interests to be two separate entities.  

Felrath Hines was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago (1944-1946) before moving to New York in 1946 to study with the prominent Russian figurative expressionist Nahum Tschacbasov (1899-1984). He later studied design at Pratt Institute and New York University. In addition to his artistic oeuvre, Hines was known for his conservation work and opened a private practice in 1964. His clients included Georgia O’Keeffe, the Museum of Modern Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 1972, he left New York for Washington, D.C. to become Chief Conservator of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery, and subsequently the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, until his retirement in 1984. 

Felrath Hines: A Personal Pursuit will open November 15, 2024 and will run through January 11, 2025. The gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm.