East Jamaica Road
1943
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
graphite and pen and black ink on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 12.8 x 20 cm (5 1/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Sally Michel Avery
Accession Number
2002.104.2.48
Art Historical Context
Milton Avery's *East Jamaica Road* (3) is a delicate drawing on wove paper, crafted with graphite and pen and black. Measuring just 12.8 x 20 cm, this intimate landscape sketch captures the artist's keen eye for everyday American scenes, likely inspired by the rural edges of Queens, New York where Avery lived and worked. Created during World War II, it reflects a quiet respite amid global turmoil, showcasing Avery's ability to distill nature's rhythms into simple, evocative lines. A key figure in American modernism, Avery bridged Impressionism and abstraction with his flattened forms and harm...
About the Artist
Milton Avery
Milton Avery, born on March 7, 1885, in Altmar, New York, to a working-class family—his father a tanner—grew up in modest circumstances. After his family's move to the Hartford area of Connecticut in 1898, he took on various manual jobs, including as a mechanic, clerk, and construction worker, to support himself and relatives following family tragedies. His artistic path began around 1905 at the C...