Location: Crispus Attucks High School, 1140 Dr. MLK Jr. St., Indianapolis (Marion County), Indiana 46202
Installed 2023 Indiana Historical Bureau and Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
ID#: 49.2022.5
Text
Side One
Black abstract painter Samuel Felrath Hines, Jr. was born in Indianapolis in 1913. He graduated from segregated Crispus Attucks High School in 1931. Trained at the Art Institute of Chicago, Hines moved to New York City, where he became immersed in the modernist movement of the 1950s. Major museums exhibited his pieces, which used geometric forms and radiant color.
Side Two
Hines participated in the 1963 March on Washington and joined Spiral, a group of Black artists advocating for racial equality. Though passionate about civil rights, he separated his activism from his artwork. Hines restored pieces for Georgia O’Keeffe and served as conservator of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, but prioritized painting until his 1993 death.
Annotated Text
Side One
Black abstract painter Samuel Felrath Hines, Jr. was born in Indianapolis in 1913. He graduated from segregated Crispus Attucks High School in 1931.[1] Trained at the Art Institute of Chicago,[2] Hines moved to New York City, where he became immersed in the modernist movement of the 1950s.[3] Major museums exhibited his pieces, which used geometric forms and radiant color.[4]
Side Two
Hines participated in the 1963 March on Washington and joined Spiral, a group of Black artists advocating for racial equality.[5] Though passionate about civil rights, he separated his activism from his artwork.[6] Hines restored pieces for Georgia O’Keeffe and served as Conservator of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, but prioritized painting until his 1993 death.[7]
Note: To learn more about Hines, see Rachel Berenson Perry, The Life and Art of Felrath Hines: From Dark to Light (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2018).
[1] Birth Certificate for Samuel Felrath Hines, Jr., November 5, 1913, Indiana State Board of Health, Division of Vital Statistics, accessed Ancestry.com, submitted by applicant; “Hines, Felrath,” 1920 US Federal Census, Center Township, Indianapolis, Indiana, accessed Ancestry.com, submitted by applicant; “Many Pupils Graduate from City High and Grade Schools,” Indianapolis Recorder, January 31, 1931, 2, accessed Hoosier State Chronicles; Yearbook, “Seniors,” “Senior Class History,” Editorial Staff,” “Class Officers of January, 1931,” The Attucks, 1931, Crispus Attucks Museum, accessed IUPUI Library, submitted by applicant; “Classes to Hear Attucks Sermon,” Indianapolis Star, May 27, 1931, 9, accessed Newspapers.com.
[2] “Naptowners Club Formed in Chicago,” Indianapolis Recorder, August 21, 1937, 4, accessed Hoosier State Chronicles; “Samuel Felrath Hines Jr.,” Chicago and North Western Employment Records, 1935-1970, Record Date January 15, 1942, accessed Ancestry.com; Official Statement of Credit, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, September 24, 1953, submitted by applicant; Transcript, Interview with Felrath Hines by Patricia Gloster, January 21, 1974, p.6?, submitted by applicant; Susan Schwalb, “Felrath Hines (1913-1993): Out of the Shadows—Three Works Acquired by the MFA,” Berkshire Fine Arts website, January 20, 2010, submitted by applicant.
[3] “League Begins its 94th Year with Staff of 51 Instructors including 3 New Names: Felrath Hines, Al Hollingsworth & Anthony Palumbo,” Art Students League News 22, no. 8 (September 1969): 25, submitted by applicant; Unpublished manuscript, William Taylor, “Felrath Hines, American Black Artist,” Spring 1990, p.3, submitted by applicant; Susan Schwalb, “Felrath Hines (1913-1993): Out of the Shadows—Three Works Acquired by the MFA,” p. 215, Berkshire Fine Arts website, January 20, 2010, submitted by applicant; Rachel Berenson Perry, The Life and Art of Felrath Hines: From Dark to Light (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2018), 2, 3, 6, 7, 104.
[4] Catalogue, 14th Anniversary Exhibition, The Barnett Aden Gallery, Washington, D.C., October 12 to December 1957, Contemporary American Art, submitted by applicant; “Contemporary,” Charlotte Observer, February 5, 1958, 7, accessed Newspapers.com; “European, American Painting Exhibit at Lawrence Museum,” North Adams Transcript (Massachusetts), March 30, 1960, 18, accessed Newspapers.com; “Summer-Long Art Exhibition Set at Ball State,” Muncie Evening Press, June 25, 1962, 5, accessed Newspapers.com; Indianapolis Star, July 1, 1962, 103, accessed Newspapers.com; Hilton Kramer, “Art: Imposition of a Racial Category,” New York Times, January 25, 1969, 23, submitted by applicant; “Art Exhibits Begin Friday at Cornell,” The Gazette (Cedar Rapids), September 3, 1969, 11, accessed Newspapers.com; “Black Artists Exhibit Opens in San Francisco Museum,” Tracy Press (California), November 21, 1969, 14, accessed Newspapers.com; “Davenport Gallery Will Display Afro-American Art,” Quad-City Times, July 17, 1970, 18, accessed Newspapers.com; Jane Addams Allen, “New Art from the Lively Fringes,” The Washington Times, February 4, 1983, submitted by applicant; “Works of Hoosier Artist at IMA,” The Republic (Columbus, Indiana), September 7, 1995, 15, accessed Newspapers.com; S.L. Berry, “IMA Honors Hoosier Painter,” Indianapolis Star, October 6, 1995, C-1, C-5, submitted by applicant; “Felrath Hines: Explorations in Color and Form at the Athenaeum,” The Metro Herald, February 2, 1996, 20, submitted by applicant; Joy Chambers, “Felrath Hines’s Abstracts Prove Last are Best,” Alexandria Gazette Packet, February 22, 1996, 12, submitted by applicant; Perry, The Life and Art of Felrath Hines, p. 129-130.
[5] Grace Glueck, “15 of 75 Black Artists Leave as Whitney Exhibition Opens,” New York Times, April 6, 1971, submitted by applicant; Interview with Felrath Hines by Floyd Coleman in “Thinking and Living Color: Conversations with Abstractionist Felrath Hines,” Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1995, p. 66-11, submitted by applicant; Joy Hakanson Colby, “’Three Visions’ of African-American Art Brought to Forefront by Batista Gallery,” Detroit Free Press, October 26, 2002, 40, accessed Newspapers.com; Acknowledgements, Evolve the Gallery, “Spiral: American Masters,” (April 2014), submitted by applicant; Victoria Dalkey, “Artistic Echoes of 1963 March,” Sacramento Bee, May 2, 2014, X26, accessed Newpapers.com.
[6] Jeanne Siegal, “Why Spiral?,” Art News 65, no. 5 (September 1966): 49, submitted by applicant; “On the Arts,” Newsday (Nassau Edition, Hempstead, New York), February 8, 1969, 123, accessed Newspapers.com; E. J. Driscoll, Jr., “Showcase for Black Artists,” Boston Globe, July 6, 1969, 153, accessed Newspapers.com;
Interview with Felrath Hines by Floyd Coleman in “Thinking and Living Color: Conversations with Abstractionist Felrath Hines,” Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1995, p. 6-11, submitted by applicant; Blue Greenberg, “Abstractionists through and through at Nasher,” Herald-Sun (Durham, North Carolina), June 25, 2010, 29, accessed Newspapers.com.
[7] “Fine Arts and Portrait Gallery” in Subcommittee on the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies, Part 5, p. 475, submitted by applicant; Letter, Felrath Hines to Miss [Georgia] O’Keeffe, May 20, 1967, submitted by applicant; Letter, Felrath Hines to Miss [Georgia] O’Keeffe, May 5, 1971, Re: Alfred Stieglitz Collection for Fisk University submitted by applicant; Letter, Felrath Hines, Conservator of Paintings, to Miss Georgia O’Keeffe, February 16, 1979, Re; City Night, Oil on Linin, 48 x 30 inches, submitted by applicant; “Felrath Hines Art Restorer,” Black Enterprise 9, no. 7 (February 1979): 66, submitted by applicant; Performance Appraisal, Felrath Hines, Chief Conservation Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution, 9-1-82 to 8-31-83, submitted by applicant; Susan Schwalb, “Felrath Hines (1913-1993): Out of the Shadows—Three Works Acquired by the MFA,” Berkshire Fine Arts website, January 20, 2010, submitted by applicant; Perry, The Life and Art of Felrath Hines, Chapter 7.
Keywords
Arts & Culture; African American