Sleeping Baby
1933
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
drypointed zinc plate
Dimensions
plate: 14.2 x 19.5 cm (5 9/16 x 7 11/16 in.)
Classification
Technical Material
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
1991.233.87
Art Historical Context
In the intimate etching plate *Sleeping Baby* (1933), American modernist Milton Avery captures a tender moment of repose, showcasing his early experimentation with printmaking during the Great Depression era. Avery, renowned for his poetic landscapes and simplified figures that bridged Impressionism and abstraction, turned to drypoint—a direct, expressive intaglio technique—to render soft, velvety lines into a modest zinc plate measuring just 14.2 x 19.5 cm. This technical material, preserved as a working plate rather than a finished print, reveals the artist's handiwork up close, with burrs f...
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...