Landscape with Mountains 1943

Milton Avery made this landscape with mountains using pen on paper. It's a modest sketch, really. Yet its simple means speak volumes about artistic labor. The quick, repetitive strokes of the pen suggest immediacy, a desire to capture the essence of a scene rapidly. The mountains and trees are evoked with a minimum of fuss, a shorthand that prioritizes feeling over realistic depiction. The paper itself, torn from a sketchbook, signals the everyday nature of artistic practice. It suggests a working process rather than a precious finished object. Avery's choice of such simple materials is telling. It democratizes the artistic process, suggesting that creativity isn't just for the elite. It’s an activity to be woven into the fabric of everyday life. The work's accessibility and lack of pretension invites us to appreciate the beauty of the natural world, not through grand gestures, but through simple, honest observation.