Night Nude
1953
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color woodcut on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 25.6 x 60.9 cm (10 1/16 x 24 in.) sheet: 31.5 x 73.6 cm (12 3/8 x 29 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
1991.233.54
Art Historical Context
Milton Avery's *Night Nude* (1953) is a captivating color woodcut on wove paper, measuring 25.6 x 60.9 cm for the image and slightly larger for the sheet. This intimate print, now housed in the National Gallery of Art as a gift from the Avery family honoring the museum's 50th anniversary, showcases the artist's distinctive modernist style. Avery (1885–1965), a pivotal American figure who bridged Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism, favored flattened forms, harmonious colors, and poetic simplicity, often drawing from Matisse's influence. The medium of color woodcut highlights Avery's expe...
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...