Two Figures Seated on Rocks 1943

Milton Avery made this pen and ink drawing, Two Figures Seated on Rocks, on a page torn from a sketchbook. The rapid hatching and the figure’s tentative outline show him feeling his way, figuring things out as he goes along. I like the raw energy of this sketch and the way the figures are integrated into the landscape. The scratches of dark ink suggest the jagged texture of the rocks while the longer horizontal marks above imply the wide openness of the sky. Avery’s process is about capturing the feeling of a specific moment in time. He is searching for what’s essential, reducing the landscape to its most fundamental forms. Avery’s sketches remind me of Matisse and his continual play with line and shape. All these artists are in conversation with each other, riffing on the same themes but coming up with something entirely new. Painting can be so exciting, because one mark always leads to the next, opening up possibilities that you never imagined were there.