Jack Bush retrospective at National Gallery of Canada reveals painter's complex evolution and independence
The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa is hosting a retrospective on Jack Bush, which will be open until February 22. This exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive 290-page catalogue that showcases 124 artworks and includes essays from Marc Mayer, Sarah Stanners, Adam Welch, and Karen Wilkin. These writings provide insights drawn from Bush's diaries at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Initially a landscape artist inspired by the Group of Seven, Bush became a member of Painters Eleven in the 1950s and reached artistic maturity in 1961. Mayer and Welch discuss the impact of Greenberg on Bush, while Wilkin emphasizes his distinctive role in color field painting. The catalogue, with ISBN 978-0888849250, is priced at $45 Canadian and is also available in French.
Key facts
- Jack Bush retrospective at National Gallery of Canada runs through February 22
- Exhibition includes 124 paintings, drawings, sketches, commercial work, and notebooks
- Catalogue features essays by Marc Mayer, Sarah Stanners, Adam Welch, and Karen Wilkin
- Bush began as landscape painter around 1930, influenced by Group of Seven
- Bush reached artistic maturity in 1961, born 1909, three years older than Jackson Pollock
- Bush showed aesthetic resistance to critic Clement Greenberg despite suggestions
- In 1975, Bush refused to reorient paintings after Greenberg and Kenworth Moffett's visit
- Bush's work linked to health issues like angina and cirrhosis, influenced by psychiatrist Dr. J. Allan Walters
Entities
Artists
- Jack Bush
- Jackson Pollock
- Kenneth Noland
- Ellsworth Kelly
- Morris Louis
- Jules Olitski
- Mussorgsky
- Borodin
- Tchaikovsky
- Barry Lord
Institutions
- National Gallery of Canada
- Art Gallery of Ontario
- Painters Eleven
- Group of Seven
Locations
- Ottawa
- Canada
- Toronto
- New York