Felrath Hines (born as Samuel Felrath Hines Jr.; November 9, 1913 – October 3, 1993) was an African American visual artist and art conservator. Hines served as a conservator at several institutions, including the

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...

in Washington, D.C. He was a member of

Spiral In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving further away as it revolves around the point. It is a subtype of whorled patterns, a broad group that also includes concentric objects. Two-dimensional A two-dimension ...

collective and a contemporary of

Romare Bearden Romare Bearden (, ) (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York C ...

. Hines' paintings can be found in the collection of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

Early life and education

Born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, in 1913, Hines began studying art in 1926 after receiving a scholarship for youth classes at the John Herron School of Art Saturday School. After graduating

Crispus Attucks High School Crispus Attucks High School (also known as Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School) is a public high school of Indianapolis Public Schools in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. Its namesake, Crispus Attucks (c.1723 – March 5, 1770), was an Africa ...

in 1931, Hines worked for the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

as a

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

and subscribed to

correspondence courses Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

in art. Hines, Felrath (1913–1993).
The Johnson Collection. In 1940, he was employed as a railroad dining car waiter for the

Chicago and North Western Transportation Company The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

, saving money for art classes at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

Career

In 1946, Hines moved to New York City. From 1947 to 1948, he took private classes with Nahum Tschacbasov, a Russian-born American painter. He also worked as a fashion designer and took classes at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

.Hultgren, M. L. (2006). Lasting Impressions: African American Conservators. ''International Review Of African American Art'', ''21''(4), 48-55. Hines' paintings have been associated with the ''

De Stijl De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...

'' movement often containing strong design elements, inspired by

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

and the simplicity of

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...

. His work moved from semi-abstract landscapes in the 1940s and 1950s to geometric abstracts, and is recognized in the

Black Abstractionism African-American artists have created various forms of abstract art in a wide range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, collage, drawing, graphics, ceramics, installation, mixed media, craft, and decorative arts, presenting the viewer with ...

canon. As Hines became more influenced by American modernists, such as Stuart Davis,

Ad Reinhardt Adolph Friedrich Reinhardt (December 24, 1913 – August 30, 1967) was an American abstract painter and art theorist active in New York City for more than three decades. As a theorist he wrote and lectured extensively on art and was a ...

Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...

Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, col ...

, and

Barnett Newman Barnett Newman (January 29, 1905 – July 4, 1970) was an American painter. He has been critically regarded as one of the major figures of abstract expressionism, and one of the foremost color field painters. His paintings explore the sense ...

, he began to eliminate line from his compositions, focusing instead on simple shapes and a restrained color palette. In 1963, Hines joined a club of sixteen African-American artists called

, which had been formed by

. Spiral was a loosely structured group of black artists, ranging in age from twenty-eight to sixty-five and in style from minimalism to realism, who sponsored an exhibit of black and white artwork for symbolic reasons.

Billy Strayhorn William Thomas Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take the ...

, the jazz musician, was the first person to purchase one of Hines’ paintings. Despite Hines' involvement with Spiral, he wanted his imagery to remain universal and not to be seen as having relevance exclusively to black social causes or to African Americans. As a result, he refused to participate in the

Whitney Museum of Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a modern and contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The institution was foun ...

's landmark exhibition Contemporary Black Artists in America.

Art conservation

In addition to his artwork, Hines was a noted art conservator. He interned with Robert Kulicke, a master framer in New York. Hines completed a two-year apprenticeship with Caroline and Sheldon Keck, founders of the Conservation Center at

New York University Institute of Fine Arts New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. Hines assisted the Kecks in conserving Claude Monet’s ''Water Lilies'', which were housed at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

. From 1962 to 1964, Hines was a supervisor at NYU’s Fine Arts Laboratories, and left that position to start his private art conservation business. His conservation clients included his friend and artist

Georgia O’Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 March 6, 1986) was an American modernist painter and draftswoman whose career spanned seven decades and whose work remained largely independent of major art movements. Called the "Mother of American m ...

, and the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a former art museum in Washington, D.C., that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Founded in 1869 by philanthropist William Wilson Corco ...

, and

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

. In 1972, Hines was appointed Chief Conservator of the Smithsonian Institution’s

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

. He later worked at the

, and retired as chief conservator in 1984. After his retirement and until his death in 1993, Hines produced more paintings than the rest of his career combined.

Personal

Hines was married to Dorothy C. Fisher, the executor of his estate. Fisher, in order to preserve Hines' work after his death, donated several of his painting to museums and university art galleries. Hines is commemorated by a State Historical Marker, installed at Crispus Attucks High School by Indiana Humanities in April 2023.

Collections

Hines' works are included in several public and private collections, including the

Ackland Art Museum The Ackland Art Museum is a museum and academic unit of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was founded through the bequest of William Hayes Ackland (1855–1940) to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is locat ...

Chrysler Museum of Art The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum on the border between downtown and the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler Jr ...

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

Fort Wayne Museum of Art The Fort Wayne Museum of Art (FWMoA) is an American art museum located in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, Allen County, United States. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art contains permanent collections and national traveling exhibitions and is accredit ...

, Yanari-Rizzo, Sachi (February 25, 2019)
Treasures from the Vault: Felrath Hines.
Fort Wayne Museum of Art.

Museum of Fine Arts Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

Nasher Museum of Art The Nasher Museum of Art (previously the Duke University Museum of Art) is the art museum of Duke University, and is located on Duke's campus in Durham, North Carolina, United States. History In 1936, art collector William Hayes Ackland wro ...

, North Carolina Central University Art Museum, and

Select exhibitions

* ''Color Balance: Paintings by Felrath Hines'', Ackland Museum; Nasher Museum of Art; and North Carolina Central Art Museum, 2010. Color Balance: Paintings by Felrath Hines. January 15, 2010 - May 9, 2010.
Ackland Museum. * ''A Universal Language: The Art of Felrath Hines'', Indiana State Museum, 2019. * ''Felrath Hines: A Personal Pursuit'', Spanierman Modern, New York, 2024-2025. Felrath Hines. A Personal Pursuit. November 15, 2024 – February 15, 2025.
Spanierman Modern.

References

External links

*

June Kelly Gallery, New York.
"Felrath Hines at Easel"
Baltimore Museum of Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Hines, Felrath 1913 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters Painters from New York City Painters from Indiana Artists from Indianapolis Civilian Conservation Corps people School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni New York University alumni Pratt Institute alumni Smithsonian Institution people Conservator-restorers 20th-century African-American painters 20th-century American male artists Herron School of Art and Design alumni Crispus Attucks High School alumni