Sun Bather 1943

Milton Avery made this drawing, Sun Bather, with graphite on paper. The looseness of the marks! It's like he's thinking out loud. I love that the paper is from a spiral-bound sketchbook - it’s like we’re catching him in a private moment. The strokes vary from light and airy to dark and emphatic, especially in the scribbled area in the lower right corner which almost reads as a signature. The texture of the paper also shows through, adding another layer to the process. You can sense his hand moving quickly, trying to capture the essence of the scene with a kind of joyful immediacy. Avery’s simplified shapes and the way he flattens the space reminds me of Matisse. Like Matisse, Avery wasn’t interested in photographic realism; instead, he sought to capture the feeling of a thing. And like all good drawings, it’s full of possibility.