A ccompanying the example of Drexler’s early work (lot 515) is Summer Hill (1980), a resplendent example of the artist’s fantastical compositions of the 1980s. Just as in Summer Hill, the bold and fresh colours created by Drexler’s signature brushwork pull the viewer in and command attention. A bold, dynamic and striking work that radiates powerfully with an impressive sense of vitality, Summer Hill was painted during a period when Lynne Drexler ventured outside of Abstract Expressionism and followed the path led by colour and gesture. Drexler had begun gravitating toward more representational subject matter, primarily the landscapes of Monhegan Island in Maine, with the present work depicting a scene of lush greenery. Exploring swirling patterns of tightly rendered colour, the present work dazzles in its chromatic splendour. The lush greens cascade in contrast with brown stripes of colour that stipple across the canvas towards moment of bold orange, a celebratory example of Drexler’s mature work. The chromatic brilliancy of the present work recalls Van Gogh’s Wheat Field with Cypresses (1889), their distinctive impasto and loose gestural brushwork instantly recalling the exuberance of summer t.mes . 

In 1961, Drexler married fellow artist John Hultberg. Together the two of them took on the New York City art world, becoming friends with influential figures such as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. As t.mes passed, Drexler felt the effects of being a female artist in the New York art scene, eventually settling on Monhegan Island in a move that would have a profound impact on her artistic output. On Monhegan Island Drexler felt at ease and artistically charged. The peace and solitude influenced her works in beautiful ways and the simplicity of her life on the island was more than enough to make Drexler feel complete as an individual and an artist. She said of her t.mes on the island “I sell enough here to make a living off of. I am not rich…but I have what I want. I mean as long as I have food, heat, roof over my head, food for the cat, and paint I am happy. Oh and Jack Daniel’s” (Lynne Mapp Drexler, Her Way, Palm Springs 2020, p. 8). 

Although Drexler was largely overlooked by her contemporaries, it was not until the artist’s death in 1999 that the magnitude of her work was truly discovered. Often overlooked by the New York establishment, Drexler is now part of a generation of female artist being written back into the artistic canon as a pivotal member of the New York School group for post-war Abstract Expressionists. Finally recognised, Drexler’s work is now housed in the permanent collects ions of several prominent institutions including Museum of Modern Art, New York, Hudson River Museum, New York, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C..

《夏 日小丘》（1980年）與琳恩．德雷克斯勒另一早期作品（拍品編號 515）一同登場，在德雷克斯勒1980年代眾多充滿詩意幻想的作品中，此畫屬於其中一幅燦爛多彩的作品。《夏日小丘》一貫地呈現德雷克斯勒的特色筆觸，一筆一劃皆以絢麗鮮亮、清新動人的色彩創造，讓觀者著迷不已，難以移開視線。作為一幅鮮豔奪目、活潑生動的作品，《夏日小丘》流瀉出令人驚嘆的澎湃生命力，懾人心魄。此畫繪於琳恩．德雷克斯勒跳出抽象表現主義、轉向追尋色彩和動態畫姿的冒險時期，在這段時期，她開始傾向圍繞更具象的題材創作，主要以緬因州蒙赫根島的風景為主，《夏日小丘》便描繪了一片綠樹環繞的景色。與此同時，她在此作緊密交織的色彩中試驗一個個漩渦圖案，讓《夏日小丘》顯得絢爛奪目，耀眼迷人。深淺不一的蒼翠綠調自然洋灑在畫布之上，突顯一道道散落其中的棕色條紋，將鮮明大膽的橙色推向更生動明亮的表現，造就德雷克斯勒這幅精品中的精品。此作的絢麗色彩也不禁讓人想起梵谷的《種著柏樹的麥田》（1889年作），二人各自的獨特厚塗和鬆散筆觸皆讓充滿朝氣的盛夏氣息瞬間浮現。

1961 年，德雷克斯勒與同為藝術家的約翰．赫爾特伯格結成夫妻，並一起進入紐約的藝術圈發展，與馬克．羅斯科、傑克森．波洛克、艾倫．金斯堡和傑克．凱魯亞克等頂尖人物交情匪浅。隨著時日過去，德雷克斯勒感覺到在紐約藝術界作為女性藝術家所承受的影響，最終，她選擇定居在緬因州的蒙希根島，此舉也對她的藝術創作產生了深刻的影響。在蒙希根島上，德雷克斯勒感到輕鬆自在，創作能量相當豐沛。島上平和和孤獨的氛圍以非常怡悅的方式感染她的作品，島上生活簡單樸素，卻足以讓德雷克斯勒感到自己是圓滿自足的個體和藝術家。當她談到在島上的日子時，她說：「我賺的錢足夠我生活。我不富有……但想要的都有了。只要三餐溫飽，能有暖氣，有瓦遮頭，有貓糧和顏料，我就很滿足。噢，還有Jack Daniel's威士忌」（琳恩．馬普・德雷克斯勒，《我行我素》，加洲棕櫚泉，2020年，頁8）。

德雷克斯勒一直得不到同時代藝壇的關注和重視，直到她在1999年去世後，其作品的深厚內涵才真正被世人看見。當初，德雷克斯勒長期被紐約的主流論述忽視，如今她以一代女性藝術翹楚的身份重新被載入藝術史冊，也被視為戰後抽象表現主義中重要的紐約畫派人物。德雷克斯勒重獲認可後，其作品成為多家大型博物館的永久館藏，包括紐約現代藝術博物館、紐約哈德遜河博物館、芝加哥藝術博物館、緬因州波特蘭藝術博物館、緬因州蒙赫根博物館及紐約現代藝術博物館、華盛頓美國國家美術館。