Sea Gazers
Milton Avery
MILTON AVERY, 1956. OIL ON CANVAS.
The horizon almost dissolves between shades of blue so subtly different you hardly notice the transition. Two figures sit under umbrellas in serenity and we, the viewer, are voyeurs to a scene of tranquil calm, emphasised by every soft hue and gentle brushstroke. Milton Avery was a master colorist, perhaps the greatest in American history, who could wield a palette into submission and create with shade alone an overwhelming emotion. More often than not, this emotion was one of calm. His work is absent of anxiety or anger, even when showing tumultuous seas or energetic nature, every piece is underscored by a poetic tranquility. So overwhelming is this feeling, it seems as if Avery has a detachment from the world he depicts. That distance is perhaps unsurprising when put into the context of his work. His paintings are wholly figurative and yet they speaks to, and inspired, a burgeoning abstract movement. He existed between movements, to figurative for the abstracts and too abstract for the figuratives, and so Avery rose above it all, saw the world unburdened by anything other than the beauty he could find in the everyday around him.