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FREE MILTON AVERY AND THE END OF MODERNISM PDF Karl Emil Willers | 80 pages | 01 Feb 2011 | State University of New York Press | 9780615401812 | English | Albany, NY, United States Milton Avery () , Mother and Child | Christie's Sale Price realised USD 1, Painted in Keith Warner, by Parke-Bernet, New York, 15 Decemberlot William H. Weintraub, New York, acquired from the above. By descent to the present owner from the above. Initial compositions of the Madonna and Child, by the likes of Giotto and Cimabue in the thirteenth century, later by Titian, were carried on by Rapheal and others during the Renaissance, and further still into the Baroque. The subject transitioned from the religious context into the secular realm and was carried into portraits of English aristocracy, such as those by Joshua Reynolds during the eighteenth century, and the romantic realism of William-Adolphe Bouguereau, before being embraced by Impressionist painters of the late nineteenth century. However, unlike those who came before him, Avery set out to Milton Avery and the End of Modernism such seemingly mundane yet contemplative subjects in a modern lexicon of forms that fit together into an equally poetic arrangement. When Rosenberg arrived in America inhe brought a cache of great works by important European artists, including Georges Braque, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, many of whom provided Avery with a new understanding on abstract representation. Picasso himself was no stranger to modernizing the age old subject of mother and child, addressing it on a number of occasions, including in Mother and ChildMilton Avery and the End of Modernism Institute of Chicago. He replaced the brushy paint application and graphic detailing that had informed his previous efforts with denser more evenly modulated areas of flattened color contained with crisply delineated forms. The result was a more abstract interlocking of shapes and a shallower pictorial space than he had previously employed. Avery retained color as the primary vehicle of feeling and expression, but achieved a greater degree of abstraction by increasing the parity between recognizable forms and abstract shapes. Avery has reduced the composition Milton Avery and the End of Modernism a myriad of cutouts that fashion a cohesive puzzle of abstract forms. The painter creates tension and balance through his selection of complementary and contrasting colors and shapes. While he simplifies the scene to the broadest possible elements, he invigorates these shapes through his sophisticated use of variegated hues. The result is an emphasis on the central figure, pushing our focus forward to the mother figure and her intimate relationship with her child. As Avery noted, "I work on two levels. I try to construct a picture in which shapes, spaces, colors form a set of unique relationships independent of any subject matter. At the same time I try to capture and translate the excitement Milton Avery and the End of Modernism emotion aroused in me by the impact with the original idea. But Rothko and Gottlieb would come around and study his paintings and just absorb them by osmosis. One summer in Gloucester, Milton refused to show them what he was doing, because he felt they were becoming too dependent upon him. Avery, a representational painter, influenced the future development of abstract art. Avery wrote, "I am not seeking pure abstraction; rather, the purity and essence of the idea--expressed in its simplest form. His is the poetry of sheer loveliness, of sheer beauty. Thanks to him this kind of poetry has been able to survive in our time. This-alone-took great courage in a generation which felt that it could be heard only Milton Avery and the End of Modernism clamor, force and a show of power. But Avery had that inner power in which gentleness and silence proved more audible and poignant. It is this reinterpretation that cemented his legacy and Milton Avery and the End of Modernism invaluable to the development of Milton Avery and the End of Modernism abstraction, while never fully abandoning representational painting. This conviction of greatness, the feeling that one was in the presence of great events, was immediate on encountering his work. It was true for many of us who were younger, questioning, and looking for an anchor. This conviction has never faltered. It has persisted, and has been reinforced through the passing decades and the passing fashions. During the first half of the 20th century — the golden age of American illustration — artists such as Rockwell and Wyeth helped to define a nation's identity. Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift and Bradley Cooper are among the stars donating guitars and other items in aid of the music industry in Nashville. A view of Dalva Brothers: Parisian Taste in New York, showcasing the finest examples of 18th century French furniture, porcelain and sculpture. Sale American Art. New York 19 November Browse Sale. Previous Lot Search. Lot 30 Property from a Private Collection Read more. Milton Avery Price realised. Follow lot. Add to Interests. Contact Client Service info christies. Recommended features. The T. To Nashville with love Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift and Bradley Cooper are among the stars donating guitars and other items in aid of the music industry in Nashville. Copy link. Tap to Close. Milton Avery & the End of Modernism A singular artist, Milton Avery defied stylistic trends and charted his own way through American Modernism. A quiet man who did not necessarily fit the romantic, bohemian notion of the modern, avant-garde artist, Avery boldly used color and abstracted forms to convey a unique vision of the American scene. Friends with the young Abstract Expressionists, Avery imparted his unique vision of the power of color to Milton Avery and the End of Modernism, and in turn, he seemed intrigued by their explorations of the power of ambiguous, abstract compositions. While often overlooked in the annals of American art, Avery was a touchstone not only for the Abstract Expressionists and later Color Field Paintersbut also for more contemporary painters, like Peter Doig, who emphasize color to convey the moods of places and memories. While his reputation was often overshadowed, Avery's art seems newly fresh again. His family was working class - his father was a tanner - and he was one of four siblings. When he was thirteen the Averys moved to Wilson Station, Connecticut. Steeplechase exemplifies Avery's early work and pays homage to the city he made his home. As his wife Sally explained, "The subway fare to Coney Island was five cents; with Avery paints it as a slice-of-life, with bathers, families, and tourists populating the foreground. In the background is a tall wooden roller-coaster, a large sign advertising the park, and a covered carousel dotted with bright lights. Though he uses tones of deep gray and blue in the sky and muted pale gray for the beach itself, this is not a melancholy image; Milton Avery and the End of Modernism, it is one of joie de vivreof delight in the city's leisure offerings even on a cloudy day. Critics often deem Avery's work a fusion of the traditional and the modern, and this work exemplifies that assessment. Milton Avery and the End of Modernism depiction of an urban scene is reminiscent of American painters such as Georgia O'Keeffe, John Sloan, and Edward Hopper, but like O'Keeffe, who heavily abstracted her work, as well as Arthur Dove, Avery deviates from realism to focus more on aesthetics than mimesis. The human figures are not proportionate, perspective is off, shapes are flat. Like both European and American modernists, Avery seeks to, as critic Hilton Kramer explains, "emphasize the essentially flat, two-dimensional nature of the painting surface " and explore the way color and light create atmosphere, mood, and allusion. In this portrait of his wife Sally, which she considered one of her favorites, Avery's signature style of flat, abstracted shapes and effusive color is on full display. Sally sits perched on a small stool against a background of creamy blue-green. Her attire is vibrant - a crimson skirt, a yellow blouse, a violet sweater flecked with red, and a mauve hat perched jauntily on her head - and her face is slightly tilted, Milton Avery and the End of Modernism out at the viewer with a content and cerebral gaze. Though the colors are lifelike enough, Sally's facial features are simplified, her figure is attenuated and abstracted, and the image is totally flat, lacking dimension or modeling. Artist's Wife is certainly a portrait, but like modernist master Henri Matisse, whom Avery admired greatly and was compared to often though Sally herself said it best when she succinctly stated the major difference between the two: "Matisse was a hedonist and Milton was an ascetic "the focus here is more on color and shape rather than the depiction of an actual likeness. Avery, as a representative for DC Moore Gallery noted, "[had] an independent vision in which everything extraneous was removed and only the essential components were left," and was aptly lauded for his "chromatic harmonies of striking subtlety and invention. Avery's paintings from Milton Avery and the End of Modernism s retained and expanded upon his visual vocabulary of saturated hues, robust shapes, and flat, abstracted subject matter. Here he paints Red Rock Falls, a popular destination in Glacier National Park, Montana, in perhaps the least representational terms for what is ostensibly a landscape painting. The river is two painted swathes of cream and lavender flowing from the upper middle part of the canvas. It divides the hills around it, which are rendered in hues of scarlet, lilac, and earthy brown Milton Avery and the End of Modernism green.