Sky Wash/Mabel's Release #3, May 1966, 1964

The Artist Vincent Melzac, Washington, DC, 1969 By descent to Sheila Melzac, 1989 Christie's, auction, New York, 15 February 2000, lot 86 Estate of Robert Noakes

"The Vincent Melzac Collection", The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 18 December 1970-7 February 1971, no. 17 as "Mabel's Release #5" "Jack Bush: A Retrospective", Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; travelling to Vancouver Art Gallery; Edmonton Art Gallery; Musée d'Art contemporain, Montreal; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 17 September 1976-3 July 1977, no. 22 as "Mabel's Release #5" "Color and Light: The Collection of Vincent Melzac", Sunrise Museum, Charleston, WV, 26 September-12 November 1995 as "Mabel's Release #5"

"The Vincent Melzac Collection", Washington, DC, 1971, no. 19, page 93 as "Mabel's Release #5" Terry Fenton, "Jack Bush: A Retrospective", Toronto, 1975, no. 22, unpaginated, reproduced as "Mabel's Release #5" "Color and Light: Selections from the Vincent Melzac Collection", Charleston, 1995, reproduced page 24 as "Mabel's Release #5" Sarah Stanners, "Jack Bush Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné: Volume 3, 1966-1971", Toronto, 2024, reproduced pages 42-43, no. 2.48.1966.128 as "Sky Wash/Mabel's Release #3"

In the spring of 1966, Jack Bush made a critical transition in his painting practice when he stopped using oil and Magna paints on canvas and made the permanent switch to water-based acrylic paint. Sky Wash, also known as Mabel’s Release #3 (and for many years mistakenly identified as Mabel’s Release #5 due to the appearance of the artist’s inscription on the verso which includes some soaked-through paint), is among the first paintings produced using what Bush called “acrylic polymer W.B.” Oil and Magna paints require potent solvents to thin the paint or to clean dirty brushes. The noxious fumes became too much for the artist’s wife, Mabel, whose eyes became increasingly sore and irritated in the years leading up to 1966–a time in which Bush and other Color Field artists were doing all they could to thin their paints; post- painterly abstractionists aimed to achieve the thinnest application of paint, as if to make colour and canvas one and the same. Bush was still painting at home at this time, having converted the north-facing room at the front of his family home into a painting studio in the 1940s. Giving up the choking mediums of his past, his first paintings made with water-based acrylic paint were thoughtfully titled "Mabel’s Release", signalling her relief. This series totals only nine paintings and the present canvas, #3, is the smallest of the lot. Its second title, "Sky Wash", is no doubt a reflection of what occupied Bush’s efforts with this painting: the largest section of its striped composition appears to be soak-stained with blue–lighter at the outer edges and rubbed over throughout its center. Bush was experimenting with his new medium. Another painting in the Mabel’s Release series, #1, also has a second title–"Very Nice"–indicating that he was pleased with the results, and he persisted, producing another 672 paintings using water-based acrylic paint on canvas. "Sky Wash" first left the artist’s studio in 1969, when Bush sold the painting directly to Vincent Melzac, an American art collector and businessman who was a longtime supporter of the Washington Color School painters. Clement Greenberg, the venerable New York-based art critic, thought Melzac had guts, admiring his ability to pull the trigger on making purchases of art in strategic and forward-looking ways. "Sky Wash" was featured in two exhibitions celebrating Melzac’s impressive art collection: the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, when Melzac was the museum’s director (1970–1971), and in 1995 at the Sunrise Museum in Charleston, West Virginia. The painting was also lent by Melzac to be included in the first Jack Bush retrospective exhibition, in 1976, which was organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and toured across Canada. After Melzac, "Sky Wash" was acquired by Robert Noakes, another art collector known for his discerning eye and impeccable taste. The painting stems from a vitally important moment in the artist’s career, when Bush shifted gears in his choice of medium, and it is undeniably attractive–a double fortune which Melzac and Noakes recognized and prized. 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.