Avery, Milton [key], 1893–1965, American painter, b. Altmar, N.Y. Avery moved to New York City in 1925. Bold massing of forms is characteristic of his figurative work, such as Poetry Reading (1957; Munson-Williams-Proctor Inst., Utica, N.Y.). His landscapes, including Green Sea (1954; Metropolitan Mus.), and his seascapes, such as Boathouse by the Sea (1959), verge on complete abstraction. Avery's paintings are both deceptively simple and powerful, displaying qualities of fantasy and poetic gaiety within the tradition of Matisse and becoming simpler and more subtle in his later years.
See study by H. Kramer (1962); exhibition catalog ed. by A. D. Breeskin (1969).
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