Helen and Lily 1941

Editor: This is "Helen and Lily," a graphite print created by Milton Avery in 1941. There's something so intimate and immediate about this sketch-like piece. What draws my attention is its deceptively simple composition, emphasizing the linear qualities, but there is very little shading and a significant simplification of form. What are your initial impressions? Curator: Thank you. Viewing it strictly as a composition, one cannot help but be aware of Avery’s use of line. Notice the economy with which he renders form; each stroke seems carefully placed to suggest volume and shadow, even though shading, as you noted, is minimal. Consider also the relation between the two figures, their dresses appearing almost like formal complements, united only by the artist's use of stark lines. Editor: So you’re seeing how the lines themselves create depth, even without the traditional light and shadow? Curator: Precisely. We must ask ourselves, what purpose does it serve within the overall structure? Perhaps it signals the relationship between the figures or highlights areas of interest while flattening others to emphasize essential shapes and gestures. The visible mark-making—the clear trace of the artist’s hand—imparts an immediacy to the image, an almost unfinished quality, and is something the Abstract Expressionists also wrestled with in the next decade. Editor: It's like he's not trying to hide the process of creation. Curator: Exactly. How does this affect our reading? We, as the viewers, become active participants in constructing our experience of these characters through this emphasis on process. We are witnesses. How different from Academic painting’s interest in illusion? Editor: I'm starting to see how Avery uses the fundamental elements of art – line and form – to communicate the relationship between Helen and Lily, but in an incomplete manner to allow our minds to wander. Thank you; that makes me look at it from a totally new perspective. Curator: Indeed. Examining the pure structure allows the feeling to come forth.