Balance, harmony, and radiant color are present in the abstract paintings of Felrath Hines. In his early works, like Untitled nearby, fields of color seem to move forward and backward on the surface of the canvas. Later, he moved to a style of geometric abstraction with hard edges and smoothly applied colors that move our eyes side-to-side, as in Lorraine. Here, thin slivers of white canvas are exposed between a limited array of colors, allowing the colors to shimmer. A sense of balance is maintained despite a hint of asymmetry at the bottom right of the canvas.

As a young man he briefly studied textile and fabric design, strengthening his sensitivity to rhythms and patterns. His career as a conservator of paintings informed his knowledge of the science of color, which is reflected in his own paintings.

Here, Felrath Hines moved away from the organic abstraction that defined his early works (such as Untitled, also on view in this gallery) and towards a geometric abstraction with hard edges and smoothly applied colors. Hines’s experience studying textile and fabric design surely strengthened his sensitivity to such compositional rhythms and patterns. His career as a conservator of painting also informed his understanding of color relationships.