Beach Riders
Milton AVERY
(American, 1885-1965)
Beach Riders
Date1941
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 28 1/4 × 36 1/4 in. (71.8 × 92.1 cm)
frame: 32 3/4 × 40 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (83.2 × 103.5 × 3.8 cm)
ClassificationPAINTINGS
Credit LineGift of Eli and Leatrice Luria
Object number1997.28
Subject(s)
- beach
- animal
- horse
Collection
- 20th century American
- American
Sub-Collection(s)
- Modernism
- American
On View
Not on viewLabel TextThe art of Milton Avery is now recognized for its anticipation of the advanced abstraction associated with the likes of Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko, who both acknowledged their indebtedness to his example. Avery famously stood apart from the trends of the New York art world, preferring to develop his own idiosyncratic approach to shape, color, and line. This painting exhibits the deliberate gaucherie, high-keyed palette, and studied naiveté typical of Avery, in part inspired by Henri Matisse and the Fauves. The flat figures appear as collaged elements on the surface, while the overt absence of perspective and repeated curvilinear and arrow-shaped notational lines convey the idea of movemented waves and galloping horses, rather than their illusion.