Two Birds 1952

Curator: Immediately, I see a sense of calm, even stillness, radiating from this monochromatic image. Editor: Let’s dive in. The artwork you’re responding to is a woodcut entitled “Two Birds” by Milton Avery, created in 1952. Curator: Woodcut, of course, accounts for that beautiful textural contrast, that gritty interface between black and white. Do you think that choice speaks to a deliberate intention, setting the tone? Editor: Without a doubt. Avery’s approach to materials consistently reflects a desire to pare down and reveal the essence of a subject through simplification. Look closely at the surface: it’s not about polish; it's about process. You see the mark-making and understand the directness. This subtractive method involved physically carving away material from a block, demanding bold choices about positive and negative space. Curator: The birds themselves are simplified forms, nearly archetypes, almost hieroglyphic. Is this meant to tap into collective memory, the idea of birds representing freedom or a connection to nature, or even the soul in flight? Editor: Perhaps, and given its status as an 'artists proof' we could assume Avery was pursuing this purity of form with exacting, yet explorative effort. Notice how the white spaces carve out the birds against the darker background, reversing our expectations? I read it as an interest in pure, unadorned symbolic communication. It's both primal and modern at once. Avery was working during a period fascinated by simplifying to abstraction, finding resonance between raw materials and reduced forms. Curator: Right, and while materially grounded in this woodcut, Avery creates a feeling that extends beyond the purely representational, leading me towards that feeling of meditative quiet from the beginning. Editor: Yes, Avery seemed dedicated to uncovering something timeless with economical means. "Two Birds", in its black and white starkness, gives us so much to consider around both representation and material engagement. Curator: I find that contemplation equally balanced between form and feeling, allowing Avery to speak across generations.