Milton Avery
MILTON AVERY "RELAXED CONVERSATION" 1953
Milton Avery (1885-1965) whose lyrical command of colour and form positioned him as a pivotal figure in 20th-century art.
Often described as the “American Fauve,” Avery produced paintings that bridged Impressionism’s commitment to lived experience, American modernism’s emphasis on flatness, and Abstract Expressionism’s focus on surface.
Working across landscapes, domestic scenes, still-lifes, and figurative works, Avery developed a distinctive visual language rooted in simplified shapes, flattened space, and harmonious, often subtly modulated colour fields. His style, informed by early encounters with French modernism and a deep engagement with the everyday world, blurs the boundary between representation and abstraction, to reveal a contemplative, almost lyrical approach to pictorial structure.
Often depicting seated figures, bathers, or intimate domestic scenes, Avery’s drawings demonstrate his sustained interest in the everyday as a subject deserving of formal exploration. Working across graphite, ink, and watercolor, he reduces anatomy and setting to their essentials, allowing proportion and negative space to carry pictorial weight. These works on paper mirror the chromatic restraint and planar simplicity of his paintings, while retaining a directness and immediacy unique to drawing as a medium.
"Relaxed Conversation" is a paradigm of Avery's works on paper. Featuring two prone figures engaged in a relaxed conversation, the work conveys an intimate moment with a delicate sensibility. Adding detail only where necessary, Avery depicts the figures completely, with softness, dimension, and surprising wholeness.
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"Relaxed Conversation"
USA, 1953
Ink on paper
Signed, lower left
14"H 17"W (work)
22.25"H 24.25"W (framed)
Overall good condition. Full report available on request.
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