The Red Square, 1947

Collection of the artist (June 1948-1974) Estate of the artist The Park Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Ontario

New Paintings by Jack Bush, Gavin Henderson Gallery, Toronto, 1949, cat. no. 11 Jack Bush: Early Work, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1985-86, cat. no. 44 plus tour Jack Bush: Transition Years (1940-1956), Thielsen Gallery, London, 2013

Christine Boyanoski, Jack Bush: Early Work (Exhibition Catalogue), Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1985, reproduced page 61

The painting’s title – “The Red Square” – calls attention to a recurring symbol within the artist’s oeuvre. The red square in the upper right corner of the picture is arguably an abstracted version of a red sun, and the red sun is perhaps the most prevalent image found throughout the artist’s work from the 1940s and 1950s. Again and again, a red sun is seen in paintings that focus on the spirit, faith, or existential struggles. The 1997 Jack Bush survey organized by the Art Gallery of Algoma pointed to the significance of the sun in Bush’s practice with the exhibition’s title: “Hymn to the Sun, Early Work” (also named after a painting by the same title). The source for Bush’s fascination with the red sun likely stems from the Anglican hymn by a similar name: “Every Morning the Red Sun”, written by Cecil F. Alexander and first published in “Hymns for Little Children” (1848). Through the metaphor of a rising and setting sun, the first verse of the hymn acknowledges the dips of spirit that are a part of the human condition: “Every morning the red sun Rises warm and bright; But the evening cometh on, And the dark, cold night. There’s a bright land far away, Where ’tis never-ending day.” These words must have been meaningful to the artist who was undergoing his first years of therapy in the late 1940s. Bush’s paintings from 1947 through 1948 were often made in response to his midlife crisis and depression. Several of Bush’s paintings from this period included the symbol of the red sun, such as “Tangled”, “Contemplation”, “Exploration”, “Man Contemplating the Sun”, “Abstract: Light Thru Darkness”, and “Sorrow + Sun”, which all represented the artist’s emotional and spiritual thoughts. The warm and constant appearance of the sun was surely reassuring to the artist and emblematic of both renewal and endurance. In March 1948 – just a few months before Bush painted “The Red Square” – the artist’s therapist, Dr. J. Allan Walters, encouraged Bush to paint without a plan in mind, to provoke a positive sense of creative freedom. This encouragement to pursue a kind of emotional catharsis through the act of painting was effective for the artist, and “The Red Square” is a testament to Bush’s newfound liberty. In comparison to the aforementioned paintings from this period, “The Red Square” displays a happy mood; the colours are playful and the forms are curious. After a two-year hiatus, Bush showed his work in a solo exhibition at Toronto’s Gavin Henderson Galleries in October 1949. “The Red Square” was included in this coming out and the gallery called the show “an exhibition of provocative new paintings by Mr. Jack H. Bush, A.R.C.A., O.S.A.” The word “provocative” was applied to the 32 paintings that comprised the exhibition but it was, equally, the artist who was provoked. Abstract painting was his rising red sun – a bright land far away, where ‘tis never-ending day. “The Red Square” will be included in the forthcoming “Jack Bush Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné”. We extend our thanks to Dr. Sarah Stanners for contributing the preceding essay. Sarah is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Art History while writing the forthcoming “Jack Bush Catalogue Raisonné”. From 2015 to 2018 she was the Chief Curator of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Co-Curator of the 2014/2015 national travelling exhibition, “Jack Bush”, Co-Author of the resulting 2014 exhibition catalogue (”Jack Bush”) and guest curator and author for “Jack Bush: In Studio”, organized by the Esker Foundation in Calgary.