Milton Avery 1885 - 1965

Valentine Gallery, New York (acquired from the artist)
Mr. and Mrs. Roy Neuberger, New York, 1943 (acquired from the above)
Gift to the present owner from the above, 1961

Very good condition. Unlined. A small surface scratch in upper left quadrant and some overall surface dirt. Under UV: no apparent inpainting. This painting most likely retains its original frame.
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According to Sally Avery, Girl with Telephone was painted at the family home on West 11th street in New York City. Sally notes that one of Avery's Gaspé paintings is depicted in the upper center of the present work. For two months in the summer of 1938, the Avery family vacationed on the Gaspé Peninsula, in southeastern Canada, where Avery produced some 200 watercolors that he later translated into oils. In Girl with Telephone, March, Milton Avery's daughter, is seated at a table, surrounded by a vase of flowers, a telephone and a notepad. Set against a subtle dusty gray background, the peach hue of March's skin and her red-orange checkerboard patterned dress enliven the composition. Bonnie Lee Grad writes, "The most expressive of Avery's pastoral pastimes are scenes of his wife Sally, daughter March, and friends, who appear reading, drawing, painting, in conversation, making music, or involved in the simple activities of daily life...These quiet activities in which the participants are at rest, absorbed and forgetful of us, natural and unself-conscious, convincingly evoke the sense of peacefully passing time which is at the heart of the simple, pastoral life" (Milton Avery, Michigan, 1981, p. 6).