<I>Totem</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1977
name: label: Created by
content: Felrath Hines, 1913 - 1993
notes: label: Caption
content: Felrath Hines, best known for his expertise as an art conservator, was also an accomplished abstract painter. He specialized in bold geometric compositions with distinctive juxtapositions of color. Hines was a member of Spiral, a collective founded in 1963 by African American artists. The group met weekly to discuss issues related to aesthetic practices and the artist’s role as an active agent in the struggle for racial equality.
label: Caption
content: Hines participated in the Civil Rights Movement, but felt little need to insert his political views into art. He did not want to be relegated to the category of “black artist,” which he saw as limiting. He believed that artists, regardless of their ethnicity, should have stylistic freedom of expression and be judged by their work, not their race.
label: Description
content: An abstract painting in red, grey, blue and green by Felrath Hines. The painting depicts a central, irregular shaped column of grey running from the top to the bottom margins. The grey cuts through two horizontal fields color, blue on top of green, that run across the center. There is red blocking at each corner, top and bottom.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Abstraction
label: Topic
content: Art
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the artist's wife
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2009.11.1
objectType: label: Type
content: oil paintings
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Estate of Felrath Hines
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Oil on linen
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (unframed): 46 1/16 × 40 3/16 in. (117 × 102 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (framed): 46 7/8 × 40 7/8 × 1 3/4 in. (119 × 103.8 × 4.4 cm)