View of Ball Mountain
1943
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
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
2002.104.2.41
Art Historical Context
Milton Avery's *View of Ball Mountain* (1943) is a delicate pen and black ink drawing on wove paper, measuring just 12.8 x 20 cm. Captured during World War II, this intimate landscape showcases Avery's masterful economy of line, distilling the rugged contours of the mountain into fluid, expressive strokes. The smooth wove paper provides an ideal surface for the ink's precision, allowing subtle variations in line weight to evoke depth and atmosphere without color—hallmarks of Avery's modernist approach. A key figure in American modernism, Avery bridged Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism ...
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...