Milton Avery
Milton Avery (1885-1965) has often been called "the American Matisse," but that tag seems to miss his essential qualities. Hobbs ( Abstract Expressionism: The Formative Years ) has a better handle on Avery's quietly marvelous paintings. The taciturn, wry, unpretentious Connecticut Yankee, who worshiped Braque and Dufy as well as Matisse, "humanized European modernism," imaged the world as an abstraction "populated by people who are caricatures of their former selves." In so doing, we are told, Avery invented "a new type of folk art." While that rubric does not altogether fit many of his pictures, this gorgeously illustrated monograph marries superb color plates to a penetrating biographical-critical essay. Hobbs tracks Avery as he created radiant harmonies, shimmering seascapes, calm scenes in which the viewer merges with nature--a metaphysical art about how art mediates and counterfeits reality.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.