Stewart Hitch
Red Bar
1977

About the Item

We are pleased to offer "Red Bar," 1977, oil on canvas, an example of classic minimalism of the period, by American artist Stewart Hitch. Please note: This work is large. Stewart HItch was a larger-than-life figure in the bohemian art world that was Soho in the late 60s and 70s, before it was cleaned up and gentrified, initially squatting at 85 Mercer Street. Other artists who would start here included Chuck Close, Frank Stella and Richard Serra. Charismatic as James Dean with an "aw shucks" Midwestern manner and a hard drinker like Jackson Pollock, he developed a signature abstract style, but most of his art disappeared after his death. Stylistically, Hitch's work was rooted in Abstract Expressionism and Color Field, two movements that had peaked fifteen years earlier but continued to exert their force in the broader visual vocabulary of painters. Pop Art and Op Art were also among the succession of new movements that had just faded away, but geometric abstraction and Minimalism were still evolving in a dialogue that now included graffiti's leading artists, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It was in this environment that Hitch emerged with his signature style, greatly influenced by Rock 'n Roll music, Color Field, and graffiti - a multi-pointed star. A unique shape-as-subject, the strongest of these star paintings reveal dense layers of oil stick in bright primary colors bursting from their backgrounds. New York Times critic Roberta Smith, a fan, described his artistic evolution this way: "His natural touch and distinctive sense of color earned him a strong underground reputation...He evolved an engaging style that merged modernist geometric abstraction with the saturated stained colors of Color Field painting and infused the hybrid with a light streetwise insouciance." In another review, she described him as "one of the best underknown painters around." In 1979 Barbara Rose included Hitch's star paintings in her seminal exhibition "American Painting: The Eighties" at New York University's Grey Art Gallery. Soon after, the Museum of Modern Art included his work in its exhibition, "New Art II: Surfaces/Textures" (1981). He was given a solo at the Harm Bouckaert Gallery (1983). This was followed by a solo at the Jack Shainman Gallery (1987). His work was included in the traveling exhibition, "The Dorothy & Herbert Vogel Collection: 50 Works for 50 States." Renowned as collectors of New York's avant-garde, the Vogels had developed a close relationship with Hitch in the 1970s when they acquired more than a dozen works. Tragically, Hitch died relatively young, and much of his work was either lost or stolen. We highly recommend reading "The Lost Legacy of Stewart Hitch" by Leslie Kaufman in the NYT. Hitch's work can be found in more than 20 museum collections, including the Brooklyn Museum, the HIgh Museum and the Chicago Institute of Art.

Creator:

Stewart Hitch (1940 - 2002)

Creation Year:

1977

Dimensions:

Height: 64 in (162.56 cm)Width: 108 in (274.32 cm)

Medium:

Oil

Movement & Style:

Minimalist

Period:

1970-1979