Milton Avery (American, 1885-1965) - Oxcart

Signed ‘Milton Avery’ bottom right, oil on canvas
27 ½ x 35 1/8 in. (69.9 x 89.2cm)
Unframed.

Provenance

The Artist's Studio.
Acquired directly from the above in May 1940.
Valentine Gallery, New York, New York.
Collection of Jack and Ann Warner.
Thence by descent to the current owner.

Lot Essay

This lot is accompanied by a letter from The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, New York.

The paintings that Milton Avery produced in the Gaspé Bay are rare. Oxcart is no exception, as it appears on the market for the very first time, having sold directly from the artist’s studio in May 1940 to The Valentine Gallery in New York.

The Gaspé landscapes are important as they represent a critical moment in the artist’s career, when Avery began to use color as his primary means of expression. Its structural function is reflected in the restricted, darker palette in the foreground, in which Avery channels the art of Pablo Picasso and George Braque to set the emotional tone of the scene–a difficult act of labor under the beating summer sun. In contrast, the sky and sea are set in striking blue and green tones, which elevate the overall composition and give it a sense of reverie and quietude. Following in the Cubists’ footsteps, Avery reinterprets a traditional pastoral scene as a two-dimensional arrangement of forms, tones, and textures–all simplified. The slightly skewed perspective reinforces the flatness of the pictorial space, allowing Avery to achieve his signature synthesis between realism and abstraction, making Oxcart a quintessential piece of his 1940s production.

Above all, the work reflects Avery’s attachment to the landscape, specifically the New England seaside along Gloucester, a place he first visited in 1920 and often returned to between then and 1945 with his wife Sally. The sea held a profound meaning for Avery throughout his life. "We were followers of the sea,” Sally Avery reminisced. “On the beaches of Provincetown, Gloucester and Gaspe we braved the surf and rocky shore, spending endless hours contemplating the sea... Always the sea beckoned, at times with figures, at times with boats. But it was the sea, alternately black and mysterious or ruddy and gay that expressed the mystery and independence that makes its lure unfathomable. For Milton this was a subject to challenge again and again.” Here, the emerald-green sea occupies much of the composition. It enlivens it and acts as a literal pool of reflection and contemplation; it hints at a metaphorical space beyond, which contrasts with the prosaic scene in the foreground.