Milto Avery

Grasses in the Sea 5.5 x 7" oil on canvas board 1961 AVE-049-OC           Substantial Woman 36 x 46" oil on canvas 1946 AVE-002-OC                     Horse Shed & Horses 28 x 36" oil on canvas 1951 AVE-023-OC             Blue Lake, Black Mountain 24 x 40" oil on canvas 1947               Outdoor Painter 17.75 x 23.75" oil on canvasboard 1949               Reader in the Quarry 30.5 x 40.5" oil on canvas 1947             Still Life with Mandolin 24 x 30" oil on canvas 1948               Shawled Woman Seated at Table 18 x 24" oil on canvasboard 1948             Still Life with Bottle 14 x 18" oil on board 1949             Still Life with Bottle 14 x 18" oil on board 1949             Yellow Dress 20 x 16" oil on board 1962             Nude on Blue Rug 24 x 18" oil on canvas board 1941           Milton Avery (1885–1965) was one of the premier modernist American painters of the 20th century. His paintings meld representational subject matter with broad planes of color and form into deceptively simple compositions that emphasize the flatness of the two-dimensional picture plane. This radical streamlining of form and championing of color as a structural element exerted an enormous influence over the development of American color field painting, most notably in the work of Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, Morris Louis, and Barnett Newman. However, Avery's subject matter—friends, family, home—remained resolutely objective throughout his career. His unpretentious choice of subject and legendary sense of humor, evidenced in humorous titles such as Substantial Woman and Silly Beach Birds, express a lightheartedness that was uncharacteristic of the American modernist school. The accessibility of his subject matter and its levity contribute to Avery's lasting appeal today but in no way obscure the sophisticated formal concerns that are at the foundation of his oeuvre. Born in New York, Avery grew up in Connecticut and studied commercial art for a brief time but was primarily self-taught. In 1925 he moved to New York, where he increased his familiarity with European modernism, most significantly the work of Henri Matisse. Working at a variety of odd jobs, Avery was only able to paint in his off-hours. After his marriage in 1930 to the commercial illustrator Sally Michel, however, he was able to quit working and began painting full-time. It is during this period that Avery started to introduce the simplified forms and flattened space that became the hallmarks of his art. In 1935 he received his first solo exhibition at the Valentine Gallery. By 1944 Avery's mature style—modulated areas of flattened colors within crisply delineated forms—had fully coalesced. That year the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington, D.C. held an exhibition of his work. In 1949 Avery suffered a major heart attack after which his work became more muted, with thinly veiled washes of color layered atop one another. In 1957, he enlarged his canvases and further reduced his compositional elements; paintings from this period push the limits of nominal representation and are prized for their serenity and quiet harmonies. In 1960, Avery received a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York but was too ill to attend (a second retrospective was mounted by the Whitney in 1982). He died in 1965. Milton Avery's work is represented in most major North American museum collections and is the subject of several monographs, most notably Robert Hobb's 1990 book, Milton Avery.