Artist

Felrath Hines

born Indianapolis, IN 1913-died Silver Spring, MD 1993
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Felrath Hines, © Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum J0001703
Also known as
  • Samuel Felrath Hines, Jr.
Born
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Died
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Active in
  • New York, New York, United States
Biography

Painter. Hines studied design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., and his paintings—in the tradition of the De Stijl movement—often contain strong design elements. His work moved from semiabstract landscapes in the 1940s and 1950s to geometric abstracts. The artist served as a conservator at several institutions, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

Joan Stahl American Artists in Photographic Portraits from the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection (Washington, D.C. and Mineola, New York: National Museum of American Art and Dover Publications, Inc., 1995)

Artist Biography

Hines was an early and prominent member of Spiral, an association of African American artists founded in New York in the 1960s in response to the Civil Rights Movement. His later geometric abstractions embrace the universal language of pure shapes and colors. In 1983 he said, "In my view, an artist's work is to rearrange everyday phenomena so as to enlarge our perception of who we are and what goes on about us."

Gwen Everett African American Masters: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C. and New York: Smithsonian American Art Museum in association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2003)

Exhibitions

Media - 1977.48.5 - SAAM-1977.48.5_1 - 59312
Local Color: Washington Painting at Midcentury
July 3, 2008October 12, 2008
Explore the expressive possibilities of color in this special installation of twenty-seven large-scale paintings from the museum's permanent collection.
Media - 1967.59.1118 - SAAM-1967.59.1118_1 - 2924
Artworks by African Americans from the Collection
August 31, 2016February 28, 2017
In celebration of the 2016 Grand Opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, SAAM will display 184 of its most important artworks by African Americans.
Media - 1995.22.1 - SAAM-1995.22.1_1 - 65784
African American Art in the 20th Century
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is home to one of the most significant collections of African American art in the world.