Milton Avery [Hardcover]

Robert Hobbs (Author), Hilton Kramer (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1990

--The highly anticipated reprint of the artist's monograph that is still is considered the most comprehensive presentation of Avery's work --Included are many unfamiliar pieces, in oversize color plates that range in date from the early 1920s to 1963 --A detailed chronology of the artist's life is included and rounding out the volume are essays that explore Avery's career in detail, from the importance of Avery's wife Sally Michel, to the interaction-personal, artistic, and political-between him and his Abstract Expressionist colleagues Milton Avery chronicles the work of an artist who, although he did not become a serious, full-time painter until after he moved to New York at the age of 40, managed to carve out a unique position for himself in the art world over the next thirty-five years. A friend and colleague of the Abstract Expressionists who nevertheless maintained his commitment to representation, Avery was enormously important to several succeeding generations of artists and produced some of the most resonant and beloved images in American art history. Avery's work reflects the concerns he shared with the pioneer French modernists including Matisse, Dufy, and Picasso: saturated color in distinctly new combinations and an interest in retaining the two-dimensional character of the canvas. The combination allowed him to create a distinctly American brand of modernism.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.

Review

I always regarded him as a brilliant colorist and draftsman, a solitary figure working against the stream. (Adolph Gottlieb )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Hudson Hills Press; 1st edition (November 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933920954
• ISBN-13: 978-0933920958
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 12.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #615,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extensive, authoritative coverage not to be missed, September 19, 2010

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Milton Avery (Hardcover)

MILTON AVERY is the first book to offer an in-depth tribute to the range of the artist's influential work, and is a 'must' acquisition for any serious college-level art collection. It packs in all of Avery's most important paintings, including many new ones, in oversized color plates covering the early 1920s to the early 60s, and it offers text by Robert Hobbs who explores his art and life in depth. The result is an extensive, authoritative coverage not to be missed!

24 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Milton Avery by R. Hobbs, April 3, 2000

By 

C. Stubbs (Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Milton Avery (Hardcover)

Milton Avery's landscapes are breathtaking. The reproductions are of good quality, and the editorials are interesting. This is an important book to add to your fine art library.