Hills and Trees
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
2002.104.2.77
Art Historical Context
Milton Avery's *Hills and Trees*1943) is a delicate drawing capturing the serene essence of nature through simple, evocative lines. Created during World War II, this intimate work on wove paper—measuring just 12. x 20 cm—employs graphite and pen and black ink to sketch rolling hills and sturdy trees. Avery, a pivotal American modernist (1885–1965), was renowned for his flattened forms and bold color planes in paintings that bridged Impressionism and abstraction, influencing artists like Mark Rothko. Though primarily a painter, his drawings like this one reveal his mastery of line, serving as q...
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...