Seabirds on Sand Bar
Milton Avery, American, 1885 - 1965
Geography:
Made in United States, North and Central America
Date:
1960Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
34 x 54 inches (86.4 x 137.2 cm)Copyright:
© 2009 Milton Avery Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, ParisCuratorial Department:
American ArtObject Location:
1994-53-1Credit Line:
Gift of the Milton Avery Trust, 1994
Made in United States, North and Central America
Date:
1960Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
34 x 54 inches (86.4 x 137.2 cm)Copyright:
© 2009 Milton Avery Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, ParisCuratorial Department:
American ArtObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1994-53-1Credit Line:
Gift of the Milton Avery Trust, 1994
Label:
In this spare painting, Avery pushes figuration to the limits of abstraction. Eleven white birds perch on a thin, pink sandbar completely surrounded by the blue sea. The artist masterfully conveys his close observation of nature with a minimum number of brushstrokes: each bird is rendered with just a few quick touches of paint. This simple, serene work exemplifies Avery's mature style. It was painted toward the end of his career, in 1960, the year of his retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
In this spare painting, Avery pushes figuration to the limits of abstraction. Eleven white birds perch on a thin, pink sandbar completely surrounded by the blue sea. The artist masterfully conveys his close observation of nature with a minimum number of brushstrokes: each bird is rendered with just a few quick touches of paint. This simple, serene work exemplifies Avery's mature style. It was painted toward the end of his career, in 1960, the year of his retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
