Property from the Collection of Carolyn & Roger Horchow, Dallas, Texas
Milton Avery
1885 - 1965
Swimming Hole
signed Milton Avery (lower right); also inscribed Swimming Hole/by/Milton Avery/28x36/1940 (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
28 by 36 inches
(71.1 by 91.4 cm)
Painted in 1940.
This lot is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, New York.
The canvas is unlined and there is minor frame abrasion along the extreme edges. There are stretcher bar marks visible at the top and bottom edges and scattered fine lines of surface cracking throughout, which are most noticeably in the darker pigments. There is a thin vertical drip of varnish approximately 6 inches from the left edge that appears to be original to the work. Under UV: although some pigments fluoresce they appear to be the artist's original work.
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.
Ulysses Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1991
Milton Avery and his family traveled to Jamaica, Vermont for the first time in the summer of 1935 and were immediately enamored by the tranquility and isolation of the picturesque environment. They returned to the area several times over the next eight years and Vermont subsequently became one of the artist's primary subjects. Avery's paintings and watercolors from this period capture his family's summer activities and his personal response to the bucolic landscape of the Green Mountains, which allowed him to fully experiment with color and approach abstraction. In Swimming Hole, Avery depicts a jovial scene of bathers enjoying a local pond with hues of blue and grey, arbitrarily coloring the scene that the had witnessed firsthand.