Milton Avery

H.C.E. Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1965

Private Collection, Baltimore (acquired from the above in 1965)

Thence by descent to the present owner

Executed in 1963, Little Brown Owl retains Avery’s characteristic commitment to a representational style of painting, while still referencing his tendency towards abstraction. Often imbuing his works with his characteristic New England humor, Avery’s gentle rendering of this little brown owl is a wry example of the artist’s aptitude for capturing the personalities of his subjects.

Avery’s later works indicate a more balanced color palette and reference his increasingly calm and harmonic artistic approach. Painted in the last few years of his life, Little Brown Owl retains the qualities of Avery’s signature, simple figuration while also employing the fluid brushstrokes that dominate his landscape pieces. Evocative of the tenderness of familiar images and forms, this little owl stands as a testament to Avery’s ability to build his own world in each of his paintings.