Artist: Milton Avery [imputée] (American, 1885-1965). Title: "Nude with Bouquet". Medium: Watercolor on paper. Date: Composed 1963. Dimensions: Overall size: 10 3/8 x 8 1/4 in. (264 x 210 mm). Lot Note(s): Signed and dated, lower right. Painted on cream wove paper. Very good to fine condition; minor skinning verso where hinges removed, else fine. Provenance: Through Mark Rothko; Private collection, New Canaan, Connecticut. Comment(s): An impressive example of Avery's figurative compositions and possibly a study for an unrealized woodcut. Avery's work is seminal to American abstract painting—while his images are clearly representational, they focus on color relations and are not concerned with creating the illusion of depth as most conventional Western painting since the Renaissance has. Avery was often thought of as an American Matisse. His poetic, bold, and creative use of drawing and color set him apart from the more conventional painting of his era. Early in his career his work was considered too radical for being too abstract; when Abstract Expressionism became dominant his work sometimes was overlooked as being too representational. Image copyright © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [29803-2-8000] |