Jack Hamilton Bush 1909 - 1977

Andre Emmerich Gallery, Inc., New York

Estate of Dan Paul, sold for the benefit of Harvard Art Museums

Of the paintings that followed the sturdily geometric colour-bar canvases of 1968, such as Cross Cut and Grey Laughter, certainly one of the most vibrant is On the Nose. This brilliant work stands as a clear indicator that Bush was moving into another phase of his work. What followed in 1970 and 1971 were paintings in the short-lived D series, in which parts of slabs of colour floated against a monochrome ground, and then came the heavily textured grounds with their clusters of floating scarves of luminescent colours, of Bush's last years.

The transition from 1968 is not quite as evident in this work as it is in some others for 1969. However, the departure from straight-line rectangles to the subtle variations in the widths of the individual horizontal bands streaming across the canvas, is surely a signal that Bush was about to release something new. What emerged were paintings in which the bars were restricted to a small portion of the canvas only, with a broad scoop or check-mark or loop on a single colour dominating the rest of the canvas.

The saturated colour intensity of On the Nose certainly sets it in the top tier of Bush's work of this period. It has the assurance of his best and mature work, without question; it has the signature selection of colours that only Bush seemed capable of choosing; and it has a joyfulness that often bubbles up in his work; in this case it might well be the advent of spring, since this is a May painting. But perhaps the title refers to the obvious fact that with this painting Bush had indeed hit the target of idea for this painting 'right on the nose.'

As a footnote, Bush had an angina attack in April, the month before this painting was made. That this affected his painting is certain – especially with titles like Spasm #1, Tight Band, and Here It Comes – and it could be that On The Nose could refer in some way to this crisis and the sharp reminder of his mortality, as in receiving a punch on the nose. It wouldn't be unusual, given Bush's normal metaphoric vocabulary.