From Buttermilk Hollow
1943
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
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
2002.104.2.76
Art Historical Context
Milton Avery's *From Buttermilk Hollow* (1943) captures the essence of American modernism through a delicate pen and black ink drawing on wove paper. Measuring just 5 1/16 x 7 7/8 inches, this intimate work exemplifies Avery's ability to distill nature's rhythms into simplified forms and fluid lines. Created during World War II, it reflects the artist's retreat into serene landscapes amid global turmoil, a recurring theme in his oeuvre that influenced later Abstract Expressionists like Mark Rothko, a close friend. Avery, a pivotal figure in 20th-century American art, blended European modernis...
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...