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Lot Essay
In Picnic, Milton Avery depicts three figures enjoying a restful day at what is likely Central Park, New York. Surrounded by the verdant green landscapes, Avery’s figures, each donning their own distinct colorful garb, occupy the forefront of the composition while overlooking the park’s meandering paths. With this choice of subject, Avery continues the celebrated art historical tradition of depicting relaxation and leisure en plein air—as cemented by works such as Edouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe to Henri Matisse’s Le bonheur de vivre. With Picnic, Avery applies his distinctly modern vision to this celebrated subject in his use of bold colors, pattern and abstracted, flattened forms.
Rendered in the characteristically bright palette typical of his 1940s paintings, Avery's ability to transform a composition by altering the palette and suggesting forms with rough outlines, became characteristic of his signature style. He believed "a painting should be flat and lie on one plane rather than evoke what [he] called photographic depth. He championed simplified, precisely delineated forms and flattened color masses when few were willing to listen. Perhaps [his] greatest legacy was his ability to abstract the mood of a place or situation with color. Although other Americans had concentrated on color in their paintings, [his] use of soft, lyrical color to evoke subtle emotion was unique in American art. His simplification of form and luminous color harmonies provided a model for future generations of American colorists." (B. Haskell, Milton Avery, New York, 1982, p. 56)
As seen in Picnic, Avery’s commitment to combining representation and abstraction has left an indelible mark on generations of Post-War American painters. His commitment to his two-dimensional surface, color-blocking and simplification of forms not only paved the way for the Color Field painters of the 1960s, but was also influential for the work of Abstract Expressionists Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb and Barnett Newman. Indeed, the background’s large bands of pigment in interlacing green and pink pigments recall Rothko’s immersive canvases of pure color from the same period. Rothko in fact acknowledged Avery’s influence and notably remarked, “Avery is first a great poet. His is the poetry of sheer loveliness, of sheer beauty. Thanks to him this kind of poetry has been able to survive in our time. This—alone—took great courage in a generation which felt that it could be heard only through clamor, force and a show of power. But Avery had that inner power in which gentleness and silence proved more audible and poignant.” (as quoted in K.E. Willers, Milton Avery & The End of Modernism, exhibition catalogue, New Paltz, New York, 2011, p. 34)
Rendered in the characteristically bright palette typical of his 1940s paintings, Avery's ability to transform a composition by altering the palette and suggesting forms with rough outlines, became characteristic of his signature style. He believed "a painting should be flat and lie on one plane rather than evoke what [he] called photographic depth. He championed simplified, precisely delineated forms and flattened color masses when few were willing to listen. Perhaps [his] greatest legacy was his ability to abstract the mood of a place or situation with color. Although other Americans had concentrated on color in their paintings, [his] use of soft, lyrical color to evoke subtle emotion was unique in American art. His simplification of form and luminous color harmonies provided a model for future generations of American colorists." (B. Haskell, Milton Avery, New York, 1982, p. 56)
As seen in Picnic, Avery’s commitment to combining representation and abstraction has left an indelible mark on generations of Post-War American painters. His commitment to his two-dimensional surface, color-blocking and simplification of forms not only paved the way for the Color Field painters of the 1960s, but was also influential for the work of Abstract Expressionists Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb and Barnett Newman. Indeed, the background’s large bands of pigment in interlacing green and pink pigments recall Rothko’s immersive canvases of pure color from the same period. Rothko in fact acknowledged Avery’s influence and notably remarked, “Avery is first a great poet. His is the poetry of sheer loveliness, of sheer beauty. Thanks to him this kind of poetry has been able to survive in our time. This—alone—took great courage in a generation which felt that it could be heard only through clamor, force and a show of power. But Avery had that inner power in which gentleness and silence proved more audible and poignant.” (as quoted in K.E. Willers, Milton Avery & The End of Modernism, exhibition catalogue, New Paltz, New York, 2011, p. 34)