A table with a fruit bowl defying gravity conjures Cezanne, an arbitrarily colored room with a foreshortened table and window suggests Matisse, and a Cubist figure shouts Picasso, but upon closer look, they all are Milton Avery. The exhibit “Discovering Milton Avery: Two Devoted Collectors, Louis Kaufman and Duncan Phillips” at the Phillips Collection chronicles Avery’s works and presents his evolution with the times.
The exhibit highlights the sustained patronage of Avery by Duncan Phillips, founder of the Phillips Collection, and violinist Louis Kaufman. Both were avid collectors from the beginning of Avery’s career until his death. In 1926, Kaufman was the first person to purchase a painting by Avery, a steal at $25.
In the exhibit, the span of work and sustained patronage clearly demonstrates Avery’s growth as an artist, beginning with the impressionist landscapes, moving toward the abstract still lifes, then later the soft, unfinished-looking color fields with minmal details to suggest form and figure. The exhibit boasts a range of oil paintings on canvas and wood, etchings and sketches. In some cases, study sketches are included with the finished works to demonstrate the evolution of his ideas.
Born in 1885, Avery painted from 1905 until his death in 1965. His art spans from the social realism of the ‘20s, when he was criticized for being too abstract, through the abstract expressionism of the ‘50s, when his recognizable subject matter was overlooked as insignificant.
Living in New York from 1925 on, he was exposed to the work of Picasso and Matisse, which inspired him to stray away from the impressionistic landscapes he had painted at his home in Vermont. Their influence is obvious, and it was not until he began working with other contemporary artists that he fully developed a unique style.
In New York, Avery encountered and befriended painters such as Adolf Gottleib, Marsden Hartley, and Mark Rothko. Although he was not involved in the philosophical introspection and dialogue that drove their art, Avery greatly influenced the visual style of these color field painters.
One of Avery’s stronger works, “Girl Writing at Desk,” hangs gloriously above the mantle on the center wall of a second floor room and dominates the scene. The intertwined legs and downcast head of the girl suggest vulnerability and sadness. As the viewer focuses in on her, trying to look for a facial expression to reveal her emotion, she finds a blank pink face. The viewer’s eyes wander around the canvas, looking to understand, before realizing that the table has no legs, and appears to be simply a wood panel floating under the elbow of the girl. The back wall has no detail and therefore appears to be a solid abstract background, rather than an actual wall.
The positioning of this painting across the room from a smaller, framed sketch version emphasizes the progression and evolution of Avery’s ideas. The sketch is less abstracted and includes a facial expression, table legs, and wall detail. When compared with the painting, seeing the sketch causes the question of why Avery changed the image. He believed in “essence over function,” and therefore painted only what was necessary to convey the essence of the forms. The body language of the girl is sufficient to know her emotion, and the floating panel is unmistakably a table.
Though Avery presents an understated style, it possesses a certain elegance and tranquility that flows from one era of his work to the next. The third floor, the physical escalation of the gallery and high point of the exhibit, features several large color field paintings that radiate. Though this rewarding culmination is only palpable after the rest of the understated rooms have been viewed, it pays off in the end.
Even if the exhibit does not initially impress you, upon reflection, it becomes more interesting. Avery’s style was uniquely influenced by his times, and the exhibit is worth seeing to gain a fuller perspective on modern art in the 20th century.
“Discovering Milton Avery” will be on display at The Philips Collection until May 16. The Philips Collection is located at 1600 21st St., N.W.
