 milton avery (march 7, 1885 metropolitan museum of art, permanent collection, retrieved november 12, 2008 â january 3, 1965) was an american modern painter. born in altmar, new york, he moved to connecticut in 1898 and later to new york city. ==biography== the son of a tanner, avery began working at a local factory at the age of 16 and supported himself for decades with a succession of blue-collar jobs. the death of his brother-in-law in 1915 left avery, as the sole remaining adult male in his household, responsible for the support of nine female relatives.avery, m. & chernow, b., p. 9. his interest in art led him to attend classes at the connecticut league of art students in hartford, and over a period of years, he painted in obscurity while receiving a conservative art education. in 1917, he began working night jobs in order to paint in the daytime. in 1924, he met sally michel, a young art student, and in 1926, they married; her income as an illustrator enabled him to devote himself more fully to painting. the two had a daughter, march avery, in 1932. for several years in the late 1920s through the late 1930s, avery practiced painting and drawing at the art students league of new york. roy neuberger saw his work and thought he deserved recognition. determined to get the world to know and respect avery's work, neuberger bought over 100 of his paintings, starting with gaspÃ© landscape, and lent or donated them to museums all over the world. with the work of milton avery rotating through high-profile museums, he came to be a highly respected and successful painter. avery's work is seminal to american abstract paintingâwhile his work is clearly representational, it focuses on color relations and is 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, especially because of his colorful and innovative landscape paintings. his poetic, bold and creative use of drawing and color set him apart from more convention
1885_births 1965_deaths 20th-century_American_painters American_printmakers Art_Students_League_of_New_York_alumni Artists_from_New_York Fellows_of_the_American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences Landscape_artists Modern_painters People_from_Oswego_County,_New_York