Two Birds 1952

Milton Avery made this gorgeous blue woodcut, Two Birds, probably in his studio, sometime around 1952. I like to imagine the act of carving that matrix, how Avery carefully cut away at the wood to create the negative space that would later become the image. It's an act of revelation, of bringing forth the image through a process of subtraction. The blue ink is so rich and velvety, like a midnight sky, punctuated by the ghostly white forms of the birds. They're simplified, almost iconic, yet full of life and movement. And the subtle variations in the inking, the way the color bleeds and pools in certain areas, add a tactile quality to the print. You can almost feel the texture of the wood, the pressure of the artist's hand. It's part of a lineage, this print, a conversation with other artists, other birds, other skies. It's about finding beauty in simplicity, about distilling form down to its essence.