Nude
1953
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color woodcut on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 9.8 x 27.7 cm (3 7/8 x 10 7/8 in.) sheet: 21.6 x 40.9 cm (8 1/2 x 16 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
1991.233.57
Art Historical Context
Milton Avery's *Nude* (1953) captures the artist's distinctive modernist sensibility in a intimate color woodcut on wove paper. Measuring just 9.8 x 27.7 cm, this print exemplifies Avery's ability to distill the human form into simplified, lyrical shapes with a harmonious palette of soft blues, pinks, and earth tones. A pivotal figure in American modernism, Avery bridged European traditions like Fauvism and Matisse's influence with the emerging Abstract Expressionism of his contemporaries, such as Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb, whom he mentored. The medium of color woodcut is particularly s...
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...