Milton Avery 1885-1965

Alpha Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
Elizabeth Mallinckrodt, 1986
Gift to the present owner from the above

Very good condition, unlined; under UV: small vertical area of retouching above middle bird and some other very minor dots of retouching.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Milton Avery became interested in American Folk art in the 1930s and continued to draw inspiration from it for the duration of his career. Avery's spare portraits of the 1950s, his use of two dimensional space and simplified jigsaw-like shapes recall the formal aspects of the early naïve painters and decorative folk artists. "A number of Avery's paintings of chickens look like weathervanes come to life: they even display the same abbreviated configurations of tail feathers.... And Avery's many paintings of birds ... resemble wooden decoys. Part of the fun of these works stems from the games the artist seems to be playing with schematized nature in the form of birds that look like both decoys and real animals" (Robert Hobbs, Milton Avery, 1990, p. 82-83). Hilton Kramer observed, "From time to time, Avery himself will translate cultural forms back into nature, as when he paints images of wooden folk art bird decoys that look as if they are flying.... In these instances, Pygmalion's dream of bringing to life his marble sculpture Galatea is invoked with a  delightful and ironic twist, for Avery brings to apparent life pieces of folk art that still retain the naïveté, awkwardness, and piquancy that originally made them so enjoyable (Milton Avery, 1990, p.44).

In Three Birds, 1952, a parade of three ducks, their wingtips delicately incised with Avery's decorative scratching motif, flies in formation across the central band of the canvas. The narrowly modulated palette and simplicity of form lend a distinctly primitive style to the painting.