Charles Hinman was born in 1932, in Syracuse, New York. He initiated his artistic education at the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, now the Everson Museum of Art, where he attended classes. He went on to complete his BFA in 1955 at Syracuse University.[2] Alongside his artistic talent, Charles Hinman was also dedicated to sports. While studying at university he was a professional baseball player for the Milwaukee Braves in the minor league.[3] He moved to New York to study at the Arts Student League before serving two years in the army. Upon his return he was a mechanical drawing teacher at the Staten Island Academy from 1960 to 1962 and a carpentry shop instructor at the Woodmere Academy on Long Island.[3]

New York art scene

In the early 1960s Hinman lived on Coenties Slip in Lower Manhattan where he shared an abandoned sail-making loft with James Rosenquist.[4] It was an ideal art studio offering large open spaces to work at an affordable rent.[5] Along with Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Jack Youngerman and Agnes Martin who resided in the neighbouring buildings, they formed a small artistic community away from the Upper-East side and the Abstract Expressionists from whom they wished to differentiate themselves.[6] They did not constitute an art movement as such, but rather a "support and critique family that helped each other go on their individual paths."[6] Throughout the 1960s they produced works that prefigured Pop, Minimal and Feminist Art.[7] In 1965, Charles Hinman and Robert Indiana left Coenties Slip for the Bowery where they shared a building at 2 Spring Street.[8] In 1971, he moved a block away on the Bowery where he settled in an 8000 sq/ft studio where he has remained ever since. Below Hinman's studio was that of Tom Wesselmann and above worked Will Insley, across the street were the studios of Adolph Gottlieb and Roy Lichtenstein.[9] In 2002, the New Museum became his neighbor when it was built on the adjacent lot.[10]

Shaped canvas

In the 1960s Charles Hinman played a significant role in redefining the physical shape of paintings. The shaped canvas was born from the desire to break away from the traditional square or rectangular frame of painting. Rather than a formalized medium or window that contained the subject, the contours of the painting became part of the subject itself.[11] In the mid-1960s several abstract minimalist painters were experimenting with its possibilities, the most famous of which is Frank Stella. Charles Hinman drove the concept further by pushing the canvas out from the wall; his works were a form of hybrid between painting and sculpture.[12] This type of painting is known as a three-dimensional shaped canvas. As early as 1963-64 Charles Hinman created sculptural paintings with protruding geometric and undulating forms. While Sven Lukin and Richard Smith were also experimenting with the use of the three-dimensional canvas around the same time,[11]Charles Hinman's defining particularity was his focus on the illusion of space[3] and subtly suggested volume, embracing the use of color, shadow and reflection. He was influenced by Ellsworth Kellyin his flat and contrasting Hard-edge use of color but with the objective of generating and accentuating a perception of volume.[13] In the subsequent years until the early 1970s, Hinman examined the possibilities offered by this new medium: strongly protruding canvases, geometric and sensual profiles, color contrasts, color reflections on the adjacent wall, shadows, monochrome canvases.[14]

Early recognition

It was through James Rosenquist, that Charles Hinman caught the attention of prominent New York gallery owners and museum directors who visited the studio they shared.[2] Two exhibitions in 1964-65 introduced Hinman's work to the grand public and to critical attention; "Seven New Artists" at the Sidney Janis Gallery and a solo exhibition at the Richard Feigen Gallery.[15] In 1965 Frank Stella and Henry Geldzahler included Hinman's work in their group show "Shape and Structure" at Tibor de Nagy, alongside Donald Judd, Larry Bell, Sol LeWitt, Carl Andre and Will Insley.[16] His work was shown at the Whitney Museum's landmark show "Young America 1965" and the following year in "United States 1670-1966". Hinman was represented by Richard Feigen who showed his work at his New York and Chicago galleries. While major museums such as the MOMA, the Whitney Museum and the Albright–Knox Art Gallery soon bought his work for their permanent collections, his paintings also found a home in the collection of Nelson Rockefeller.[17] From 1971 to 1973 the Parisian gallerist Denise René showed his work at her Paris and New York galleries.