Milton Avery: The Late Portraits
Milton Avery: The Late Portraits
Book
Milton Avery (1885–1965) is known for his luminous paintings of landscapes, figures and still lifes. His work combines simple forms with free brushwork and lyrical colour.
Avery often spent summers in Upstate New York with his wife and fellow artist, Sally Michel Avery. During these trips, they made drawings and sketches. In winter, Avery used them as the basis for paintings in their studio beside Central Park.
This special Collectors Edition of Milton Avery: The Late Portraits accompanies an exhibition at Victoria Miro Venice. The exhibition brings together portraits from the last four years of Avery’s life. These works have simple brushwork and luminous colour. They also show Avery returning to subjects and motifs that had stayed with him throughout his career.
Gautier Deblonde photographed Avery’s apartment and studio overlooking Central Park. His photographs capture many details, including the artist’s handwritten notes. For the softback cover, we looked to the time and place in which Avery made his paintings.
New York in the 1960s was full of new ideas, music and visual culture. As a result, we drew on vernacular design, music posters and record covers. Herb Lubalin’s Fact and Eros magazines were an important reference. Colour was also central to Avery’s work. In turn, the bright colours of John Coltrane’s record covers inspired us.
For the standard edition slipcase, we chose a textured board in an earthy colour. For the limited edition, we printed an Avery self-portrait on cloth.
We placed a selection of Avery’s sketches at the front of the book to reflect his working process. The paper echoes the feel of his original sketchbooks.
Finally, we sewed the booklet and attached it to the Swiss-bound section of plates. This section also includes fold-outs. The book block has pre-dyed endpapers in rich colours drawn from Avery’s work.
Published by Victoria Miro
Contributor: Waqas Wajahat
2019
