Collection
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American Art

Road to the Sea

Milton Avery

1 of 2

Object Label

Like the modernist John Marin before him, Milton Avery described landscapes in a spare and summary way, using a variety of precisely placed touches to suggest the key details of a place. In this view of the rolling coastline of Canada’s rugged Gaspé Peninsula, parallel charcoal lines and strokes of blue wash together indicate the trees on a hillside. Unlike Marin (whose work is also on view here), however, Avery always anchored his shorthand details within an overall composition, based in a few simple outlines and extending to the edges of the sheet.

Caption

Milton Avery (American, 1885–1965). Road to the Sea, ca. 1938. Transparent watercolor with small touches of opaque watercolor over charcoal on off-white, moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper, 22 1/2 x 30 5/8 in. (57.2 x 77.8 cm) Frame: 28 x 36 x 1 1/2 in. (71.1 x 91.4 x 3.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 43.104. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

American Art

Title

Road to the Sea

Date

ca. 1938

Medium

Transparent watercolor with small touches of opaque watercolor over charcoal on off-white, moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper

Classification

Watercolor

Dimensions

22 1/2 x 30 5/8 in. (57.2 x 77.8 cm) Frame: 28 x 36 x 1 1/2 in. (71.1 x 91.4 x 3.8 cm)

Signatures

Signed lower right: "Milton Avery"

Credit Line

Dick S. Ramsay Fund

Accession Number

43.104

Frequent Art Questions

  • This painting is an abstract representation of the landscape of the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec. In the early 20th century many artists were experimenting with different approaches to, and levels of, abstraction.

    If you look closely, you'll notice that Avery has utilized two different types of watercolor (transparent and opaque) as well as charcoal in this work. The variety of markmaking techniques and the thick paper add texture to the work.

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Artists and makers

Milton Avery

34 works in the collection