Jack Bush (1909-1977)

Jack Bush (1909 – 1977) is recognized internationally as one of the finest Abstract Expressionist painters of his time.

Born in Toronto, Ontario in 1909, Bush began his career primarily as a landscape painter largely influenced by the Group of Seven.  In the late 1940s, however, he started experimenting with abstraction.   It was in 1950, when he first visited New York’s Museum of Modern Art, that his interest in abstraction was fully confirmed.  Early in the 1950s, Bush started working on large-scale abstract paintings, a signature style he would finally develop later in the decade when he became part of a prestigious club of young artists called Painters Eleven.|

It was the Painters Eleven who brought Abstract Expressionism to Canada and garnered critical acclaim from the infamous Clement Greenberg.  Bush went on with his successful painting practice, was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1976, and passed away at the age of 68 in 1977.  Two years later, the National Film Board of Canada released a one-hour documentary in honor of the late painter.

Bush’s work can be found in many private and public collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, Museum of Fine Art (Boston, Massachusetts), the Museum of Fine Art (Houston, Texas) and Tate Gallery (London, England), to name a few.