Lot Essay
Avery arrived at his mature style in the mid-1940s. Partly a result of the artist's professional affiliation with Paul Rosenberg's gallery and subsequent exposure to European modern art, Avery's work from this period forward has the distinctive character which we come to associate with the Avery name. Though the artist's style would change over the next decades, it is from about 1945 that we find Avery's dominant form of expression.
Adolescence was painted in 1947, an important year for the artist. He had his first retrospective survey at the Durand-Ruel Galleries which was called "My daughter, March" and included works depicting his only daughter in a broad spectrum of painting styles. Other works in which his daughter as the featured subject include: Nursing, Mother, 1933, and The Letter, 1945, Homework, 1946 and March in Red, 1950.
In coloration, Adolescence relates closely to Seated Blond, 1946 (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis) with its highly saturated palette of yellows, rusts and magentas. Also like Seated Blond, the reclining figure is painted with very little color and seems to be enveloped by a cloak of velvety color. For the next decade, Avery was fascinated with the possibilities of this optical device and explored the idea of a richly painted background behind a ghostly silhouette, culminating in a work entitled Nude Combing Hair, 1954 (Collection of Joy Futter). Taken to a farther degree of abstraction, Nude Combing Hair finishes what Adolescence begins - that is, the accentuation of a simply rendered figure through richly colored background.
Though Avery discounted any influence of Matisse (he felt pigeonholed by the comparison), it is undeniable that Avery understood the way Matisse used simple broad shapes to create depth and why he preferred one flat color to the fussiness of blended shades. In Adolescence, Avery also seems to recognize Matisse's love of decorative patterning, seen here in the floral arrangement placed prominently in the center of the composition. A few strokes of paint, applied with quick assuredness, may seem an unimportant device but like Matisse, Avery was highly aware that the success of a composition may hinge on one small decorative flourish.
This work will be included in Dr. Marla Price's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Milton Avery.
Adolescence was painted in 1947, an important year for the artist. He had his first retrospective survey at the Durand-Ruel Galleries which was called "My daughter, March" and included works depicting his only daughter in a broad spectrum of painting styles. Other works in which his daughter as the featured subject include: Nursing, Mother, 1933, and The Letter, 1945, Homework, 1946 and March in Red, 1950.
In coloration, Adolescence relates closely to Seated Blond, 1946 (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis) with its highly saturated palette of yellows, rusts and magentas. Also like Seated Blond, the reclining figure is painted with very little color and seems to be enveloped by a cloak of velvety color. For the next decade, Avery was fascinated with the possibilities of this optical device and explored the idea of a richly painted background behind a ghostly silhouette, culminating in a work entitled Nude Combing Hair, 1954 (Collection of Joy Futter). Taken to a farther degree of abstraction, Nude Combing Hair finishes what Adolescence begins - that is, the accentuation of a simply rendered figure through richly colored background.
Though Avery discounted any influence of Matisse (he felt pigeonholed by the comparison), it is undeniable that Avery understood the way Matisse used simple broad shapes to create depth and why he preferred one flat color to the fussiness of blended shades. In Adolescence, Avery also seems to recognize Matisse's love of decorative patterning, seen here in the floral arrangement placed prominently in the center of the composition. A few strokes of paint, applied with quick assuredness, may seem an unimportant device but like Matisse, Avery was highly aware that the success of a composition may hinge on one small decorative flourish.
This work will be included in Dr. Marla Price's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Milton Avery.