Angry Man, 1961

Collection of the artist Private Collection, Ontario

“Jack Bush”, Roberts Gallery, Toronto, 1952, cat. no. 6 “Jack Bush: Hymn to the Sun, Early Work”, Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, 1997 (travelling exhibition) “John Lennard / Jack Bush, Two Artists Separated by Generations with a Shared Vision”, Roberts Gallery, Toronto, November 10-26, 2016

Robert Amos, ‘Baring a tormented soul’, “The Times-Colonist” [Victoria, B.C.], 19 April 1998 Christine Boyanoski, “Jack Bush: Early Work” [exhibition catalogue], Art Gallery of Ontario, 1985, page 23 Michael Burtch, “Jack Bush: Hymn to the Sun, Early Work” [exhibition catalogue], Art Gallery of Algoma, 1997, reproduced page 86 Jessica Poon, “‘Harmonious Disagreement’: Painters Eleven, Abstraction, and the Construction of Canadian Modernism in the 1950s” [PhD dissertation], University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 2018, page 50 Marilyn Smulders, ‘Catharsis on canvas’, “The Daily News “[Halifax, N.S.], 20 September 1997

“Angry Man” is arguably the most abstract portrait ever made by Jack Bush. While it exudes raw emotion it does not belong to the psychological portraits that he made in 1947 when he began therapy for his state of tension. Those watercolours, such as “Frightened Boy”, were made to facilitate his own personal introspection and therefore not intended for public exhibition. “Angry Man” was painted four years later, in 1951, and its execution in oil on board, along with its close attention to creating a dynamic composition, make it something much more than a flash of creative catharsis; “Angry Man” was made to impress. Bush confidently included “Angry Man” in his 1952 solo exhibition at Roberts Gallery in Toronto, and the show was well received. A critic for “Saturday Night” magazine reviewed the exhibition and remarked that, “Jack Bush has opened a new vein which might lead him to some rich future discoveries in paint.” The reputation for success which Bush made with his abstract art soon served to convince Roberts Gallery to host the first Painters Eleven exhibition in 1954. In these early years of the 1950s, Bush was exposed to international modern art more than ever before. His membership with the newly formed Art Directors Club of Toronto provided the impetus for his first trip to New York City in 1950. At home, Bush explored the Skira series of books on modern art, such as “The History of Modern Painting: From Picasso to Surrealism”, which was released in 1950. In an exhibition catalogue published by the AGO in 1985, Christine Boyanoski pointed out the debt of Bush’s “Angry Man” to Picasso’s “Weeping Woman” (1937) which appeared in full colour in the Skira book owned by Bush. Both portraits are composed with sharp facets of vibrant colour framed by rough black outlines. Picasso’s “Weeping Woman “is a portrait of the horrors suffered by the people of Basque during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso used abstraction to create an icon of widespread suffering. Bush’s “Angry Man”, on the other hand, employed abstraction to express the extremity of internal conflict. Exuberance is not exclusive to subjects of happiness. “Angry Man” is rich with intensity, vigour, and authenticity. In praise of Bush’s 1952 exhibition, where “Angry Man” made its public debut, art critic Pearl McCarthy was bang on when she wrote, “Mr. Bush paints honestly.” 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 Paintings: A 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.