Hooded Owl
1953
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
linocut in black on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 22.8 x 17.8 cm (9 x 7 in.) sheet: 30.6 x 23.1 cm (12 1/16 x 9 1/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of the Avery Family, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
Accession Number
1991.233.44
Art Historical Context
**Hooded Owl**, a striking 1953 linocut by American modernist Milton Avery, captures the essence of his signature style in a compact monochrome print. Measuring just 22.8 x 17.8 cm, this black ink on wove paper image exemplifies Avery's love for simplified forms and flattened space, hallmarks of his influence on mid-20th-century American. Though best known for oil paintings that bridged realism and abstraction—inspiring artists like Mark Rothko—Avery's forays into printmaking reveal his experimental side, distilling natural subjects into bold, graphic silhouettes. Linocut, a relief printing t...
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...