White Rooster is the third of Avery's paintings to enter the collection. Avery was a primarily self-taught artist who followed his own instincts and produced paintings and watercolors inspired directly from nature or his intimate family life. It is his use of broad and arbitrary areas of color in White Rooster that interlock his quasi-abstract shapes in an airy, hilly landscape. Muted hues of brown pink, pink, and greens form the pictorial pattern of horizontal bands that ends in an orange sky. These bands of color are broken by blocks of contrasting colors, as in the blue tree, the brown hens, and the bold white rooster, which becomes a flattened pattern with its flipped yellow tail. Avery's subtle balance of distilled shapes and his use of closely valued colors make him one of the most original American painters—and certainly one of the foremost colorists—to emerge in this century.
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Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): Milton Avery 1947
Joyce Blaffer von Bothmer, Oyster Bay, N. Y. (until 1975; her gift to MMA)
Katonah, N. Y. Katonah Gallery. "Milton Avery: The Late Years," July 17–September 4, 1977 (brochure checklist).
Albany. New York State Senate. "Twelve Americans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 5–June 20, 1980, unnumbered cat. (p. 5).
New York. Grace Borgenicht Gallery. "Milton Avery: Major Paintings," April 15–May 9, 1981, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection One: Twentieth-Century Art," February 1–April 30, 1985, no catalogue.
Toronto. Art Gallery of Ontario. "Milton Avery: Paintings of Canada," February 7–April 13, 1986, no. 33.
Kingston, Nova Scotia. Agnes Etherington Art Centre. "Milton Avery: Paintings of Canada," May 4–June 15, 1986, no. 33.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "14 Americans," July 16, 1990–January 2, 1991, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Painting: 1905–1950," April 19–October 7, 1991, no catalogue.
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "Landscape of America: The Hudson River School to Abstract Expressionism," November 10, 1991–February 9, 1992, unnumbered cat. (p. 55).
Ida Balboul in "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1975–1979. New York, 1979, pp. 73–74, ill.
Henry Geldzahler. Twelve Americans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., New York State Senate, Albany. New York, 1980, pp. 4–5, ill.
William S. Lieberman inTwelve Americans from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., New York State Senate, Albany. New York, 1980, p. 3.
Bonnie Lee Grad. Milton Avery. Royal Oak, Mich., 1981, unpaginated, no. 14 (color).
Lisa Mintz Messinger in20th Century Art: Selections from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Vol. 2, Painting: 1945-1985. New York, 1986, pp. 14–15, ill. (color, overall and detail).
William S. Lieberman in20th Century Art: Selections from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Vol. 2, Painting: 1945–1985. New York, 1986, p. 6.
Kay Kritzwiser. "Avery's Biggest Fan Looks Back With Love." Globe and Mail (Toronto) (February 22, 1986), p. D15.
Lisa Moore. "The Unique Vision of Milton Avery." Kingston Whig-Standard (May 1, 1986), p. 1, ill.
Matt Damsker. "The Met Goes Modern: New Wing a Treasure Box, Even If Collection Has Gaps." Hartford Courant (February 11, 1987), ill. p. C1.
Maureen Mullarkey. "Tuesday at the Met." Hudson Review 40 (Summer 1987), p. 205.
Robert Hobbs. Milton Avery. New York, 1990, pp. 81, 83–84, ill. p. 85 (color).
Kate Farrell. Art and Nature: An Illustrated Anthology of Nature Poetry. New York, 1992, p. 33, ill. (color), illustrates a poem by Wallace Stevens.
Stephen Pentak and David A. Lauer. Design Basics. 9th ed. Boston, 2016, p. 276–77, fig. C (color).
Milton Avery (American, Altmar, New York 1885–1965 New York)
1933
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