The Good Samaritan, May 1951

The Artist Estate of the Artist, 1974 Jack Bush Heritage Corporation Private Collection, Ontario

"80th Annual Exhibition, Ontario Society of Artists", Art Gallery of Toronto, 1952, no. 11 "Jack Bush: Early Work", Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; travelling to Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury; Thunder Bay National Exhibition Centre; Oakville Centennial Gallery; Woodstock Art Gallery; Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax; Acadia University Art Gallery, Wolfville, 21 December 1985-January 1987, no. 50

"80th Annual Exhibition", Ontario Society of Artists, Toronto, 1952, no. 11, unpaginated, reproduced Robert Reid, 'Creative Struggle: Jack Bush Earned International Acclaim', "Kitchener-Waterloo Record" (22 September 1968), page 17 Murray Battle, "Jack Bush" [video], National Film Board of Canada, Ontario, October 1979 Christine Boyanoski, "Jack Bush: Early Work", Toronto, 1985, no. 50, reproduced page 66 'Bush Works at Dal Gallery', "Halifax Mail Star" and "Halifax Chronicle Herald" (19 November 1986) Sarah Stanners, "Jack Bush Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné, Volume 1, 1920-1954", Toronto, 2024, reproduced pages 404-405, no. 1.183.1951.137

Before his international reputation as an abstract painter took shape, Jack Bush was an award-winning painter of landscapes and figures. As a student of the Ontario College of Art, he won a scholarship for the 1928-1929 school year in the subject of life studies. In 1946, as a member of the Ontario Society of Artists (OSA), he won the prestigious Rolph-Clark-Stone purchase award for a painting in the vein of American regionalism titled "Village Procession", now in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Bush continued showing in OSA exhibitions, and in 1952 he won the J.W.L. Forster Award for Best Picture in the society’s 80th Annual Exhibition for his powerful oil on masonite painting, "The Good Samaritan". Of all the religious paintings by Bush, which were largely produced between the late 1940s and the early 1950s, "The Good Samaritan" is arguably the best, and the biggest. It is also the only award-winning early work presently not in a museum collection (that is, it may be the only opportunity to acquire an award-winner that predates his Painters Eleven years). The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a story told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (10:25–37). The moment that Bush chose to depict is a moment of relief (as felt by the one who is suffering) matched by a moment of kindness (as exercised by the Samaritan). The timing here is pivotal, both in the story, and in the way in which Bush described it in paint: dark birds begin to fly away (death is averted) and the drink is about to be accepted (life is promised). It is a moment of mercy in action. The moral of the story is that no matter what our differences are, we must help each other as good neighbours, with love and compassion. We extend our thanks to Dr. Sarah Stanners, an Adjunct Professor, curator, and author who recently produced "Jack Bush Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné" (2024), for contributing the preceding essay.