Milton Avery (American, 1885-1965). Agua, 1946. Oil on canvas. 36 x 28 inches (91.4 x 71.1 cm). Signed and dated lower l...

Description

Milton Avery (American, 1885-1965)
Agua, 1946
Oil on canvas
36 x 28 inches (91.4 x 71.1 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: Milton Avery 1946

PROVENANCE:
The artist;
The Harmon Gallery, Naples, Florida;
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Letson, Naples, Florida, acquired from the above, May 1970;
By descent to the present owner.

EXHIBITED:
The Harmon Gallery, Naples, Florida, and elsewhere, "Milton Avery Retrospective: Paintings, Drawings, Graphics," March 14-April 3, 1982;
Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida, "Milton Avery--Paintings, Drawings and Prints," June 2-August 21,1983.

Milton Avery painted Agua in 1946, shortly after returning from a three-month trip to Mexico with his family. While in Mexico, the artist visited places like Mexico City and San Miguel Allende, making notebook sketches of his observations of specific colors and atmospheric conditions. The result was an array of dazzling paintings that spotlighted a number of subjects ranging from flowers to native clothing, to every day chore such as collecting water.

Scholar Robert Hobbs writes, "In Mexico he found the saturated local colors of folk art, flowers, native clothing, and markets completely in tune with the direction he had been taking...The works are jovial, filled with the pleasant satisfactions of folk art, an attitude that may have been encouraged by the Averys' visit to the primitive arts museum in Patzcuaro where native crafts and traditional costumes were exhibited" (Milton Avery, New York, 1990, pp. 145-46).

The archives of The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation include documentation of a related 1946 watercolor entitled Water Carrier at Fountain.


More information about Milton Avery. See also: Avery, Milton, Avery, Milton Clark Artist.

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