Strange Bird 1953

Milton Avery made this linocut, Strange Bird, in 1953, and look at the way he’s approached the making. The textures almost read as playful accidents. It’s not about perfection, it’s more about feeling. Here we have this bird, caught between solid and void, its form assembled from inky marks. Avery coaxes the linoleum into a conversation between the bird and its surrounding space, as if they are one and the same. See how the speckles of white making up the body of the bird mirror the way the black ink texture extends across the image, suggesting a kind of unity. For me, the little legs of the bird are charming, like little twigs delicately placed. The whole image makes me think of Henri Matisse’s cut-outs: like those, it’s both simple and deep at the same time, embracing the strange beauty found in the everyday.