The New York Public Library has extended its current exhibition of prints and gouaches by Milton Avery through Saturday. Here’s what I wrote about it last month in the Washington Post:
For pure charm, it’d be hard to top the Milton Avery exhibition…at the main branch of the New York Public Library, a pleasingly compact affair that goes by the mile-long name of “The Flying Pig and Other Winged Creatures: An Exhibition of the Artist’s Illustrations and Prints.” Fifty-nine years ago, Avery accepted an invitation to illustrate a children’s book written by a friend and called “The Flying Pig.” The book was scrapped on account of excessive expense (to reproduce Avery’s paintings in color would have cost too much in the days of post-World War II inflation), and this is the first time the illustrations have been shown in public. Not surprisingly, they’re just as adorable as you’d expect–fancifully composed and joyously colored, very much in the Avery manner. Hung alongside them are a dozen of the artist’s finest drypoints and woodcuts, including “Self-Portrait,” “March at a Table,” “Night Nude” and “Dancer.” If you’ve never seen any of Avery’s prints, this is an excellent place to start.
For more information (including online images of the works in the show), go here.