Oct 24, 2024

Celebrating the art and life of Jack Bush

Join the author of a new catalogue about Jack Bush for a free AGO talk on October 30

Image courtesy of David Mirvish Books

An extensive four-volume catalogue has recently been published celebrating the work of legendary and influential Canadian painter Jack Bush. Jack Bush Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné provides a detailed and comprehensive look at the artist’s career, one painting at a time. On Wednesday, October 30, its author Dr. Sarah Stanners, will be joined in the AGO’s Baillie Court by AGO Associate Curator, Modern Art, Adam Welch, curator Karen Wilkin and David Mirvish for a roundtable discussion about Bush’s artistic legacy.

The catalogue presents Bush’s complete oeuvre of painted works in four cloth-bound hardback volumes. Each of his 1,850 paintings are catalogued, including inscriptions, provenance, exhibitions, bibliography and excerpts from the artist’s diary and published commentary. Every volume begins with a chapter of the artist's biography and ends with a visual index designed for an at-a-glance reference to his paintings. Along with the work of Dr. Stanners, the publication includes essay contributions by renowned modern art experts Michael Fried and Karen Wilkin, as well as a full reprint of Clement Greenberg’s essay “Jack Bush” (1980).

“There are all sorts of art books out there, each with its own agenda,” says Stanners. “But when it came to writing this catalogue raisonné, I had a mantra: leave breadcrumbs. I knew my job wasn’t to make sweeping statements or push some grand thesis. The goal was to create a resource—material for future researchers to dig deeper into Jack Bush’s life and work."

The AGO is home to a massive archive of Bush’s diaries and notebooks, in which he kept a hand-drawn inventory of his paintings, nearly 2000 photographs of his work and exhibitions, and a set of publicity scrapbooks. Donated by Bush’s estate in 1987, the archive has been a foundational research resource for numerous projects, including the Catalogue Raisonné.

“When Jack Bush’s bold, colourful paintings landed in 1960s Toronto they radically reshaped the arts scene in the city,” Welch told Foyer. “Well beyond our borders, he was a key figure in defining Color Field painting in the United States. The Jack Bush catalogue raisonné now fully accounts for his contributions to the history of twentieth-century painting. The book—like his innovative practice—is a major achievement.”

Bush was born in Toronto in 1909. He received his formal training as a painter at the Art Association of Montreal. Starting his career as a professional illustrator, he began abstract painting later in life. At first, he painted landscapes and the human form. It wasn’t until 1947 when he was diagnosed with anxiety that he began to experiment more as a means of self-expression by the recommendation of a doctor. This prompted Bush to paint in the abstract style that would later bring him international acclaim. His vibrantly coloured, large-scale works are often associated with the Color Field movement, and typically feature stripes, shapes and forms of contrasting bright colours.

Four of Bush’s works from the AGO Collection are currently on view in the exhibition  Moments in Modernism. Dazzle Red (1965), April Blue (1970), This Time Yellow (1968), and Salmon Concerto (1975) immerse visitors in an entire room dedicated to Bush’s colourful expressions. In April Blue, for instance, he sets a series of elongated trapezoids of various colours on a beige background, accented by three additional rustic brush strokes.  

Join Dr. Sarah Stanners, Adam Welch, Karen Wilkin and David Mirvish for Celebrating Jack Bush in the AGO’s Baillie Court on Wednesday, October 30. This is a free event. Book your tickets here.

Pre-order your copy of Jack Bush Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné now. The publication was written and produced with the approval of the Estate of Jack Bush and published by David Mirvish Books in conjunction with Coach House Press, designed by Barr Gilmore, production by Type A Print.