Sally Michel Avery ( Michel; 1902–January 9, 2003) was an artist and illustrator who created

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

paintings of abstracted figures, landscapes, and genre scenes capturing personal moments of every day life. She was the co-creator of the "Avery style", wife and collaborator of artist

Milton Avery Milton Clark Avery (March 7, 1885 – January 3, 1965Haskell, B. (2003). "Avery, Milton". Grove Art Online.) was an American modern painter. Born in Altmar, New York, he moved to Connecticut in 1898 and later to New York City. He was the husband ...

, and mother of artist March Avery. Throughout their lives, Michel and Avery shared their studio space together, painting side by side, critiquing each other's work, and developing a shared style which includes the use of abstracted subjects, expressionistic color fields, and harmonious but unusual colors juxtapositions. Michel's work is the collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the National Gallery of Art (Corcoran Collection), the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...

, the

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

, and the Israel Museum, among others. Sally Michel, Milton Avery, 1961, NGA 181123

Early life

Born in Brooklyn, Michel knew from around the time she was five or seven years old that she had the drive and desire to become an artist. She began working immediately as a freelance illustrator after high school creating fashion illustrations for Macy's and was a contributor to the family column ''You and Your Child'' in the New York Times Magazine for over twenty years. While working, Michel also took evening classes at New York's Arts Students League. In 1924 Michel joined her peers in Gloucester, Massachusetts, a relaxing and picturesque locale where she went to focus on developing her artwork outside of illustration. Here, Michel got to know her soon-to-be husband, Milton Avery, who was in awe of her dedication to her art. They married and Avery moved to New York to be with Michel in 1926 where they would eventually live together in the top floor apartment at 294 West 11th Street, Manhattan. Michel served as the primary source of income for their small family from the 1920s-1950s, throughout the Great Depression, earning as much as $35 an hour for her commercial work in illustration.

Career

Michel continued to paint in her free time and shared space in the studio alongside her husband, Milton Avery, often working on smaller 18 x 20 inch canvases. The two critiqued one another as they developed what would be known as the Avery style, an artistic reflection on the importance of family and empathy to the hardships of the Great Depression. With Michel's encouragement as Avery's manager, studio mate, and wife, his career took off during the 1950s. Michel and her family chose to travel and paint almost every summer, visiting Massachusetts, Vermont, Florida, Canada, Mexico and Europe. While Michel was driven to advance her husband's career with curators, collectors, and art dealers, she only showed her own work on rare occasions during her lifetime and often downplayed her own talents. She was considered a colleague, travelled with, and actively participated developing the artistic language of expressionism and figural abstraction through discussions with friends and fellow artists

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...

Adolph Gottlieb Adolph Gottlieb (March 14, 1903 – March 4, 1974) was an American abstract expressionist painter, sculptor and printmaker. Early life and education Adolph Gottlieb, one of the "first generation" of Abstract Expressionists, was born in New York ...

, Barnett Newman, and husband Avery. Michel also visited New York City's galleries each Saturday, acquainting herself and Avery with friends

Marsden Hartley Marsden Hartley (January 4, 1877 – September 2, 1943) was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley developed his painting abilities by observing Cubist artists in Paris and Berlin. Early life and education Hartley was born ...

Louis Eilshemius Louis Michel Eilshemius (February 4, 1864 – December 29, 1941) was an American painter, primarily of landscapes and nudes. He also wrote musical compositions, verse, novels, short stories, and published periodicals.

, and Stuart Davis.

Style and legacy

Sally Michel and Milton Avery share a vocabulary of artistic styles that included an interest in the harmony and atmospheric effects of color on abstracted, but familiar subjects. Michel and Avery were inspired by the American Tonalism movement, American

Folk Art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...

of the 1800s, and the art of the

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

, especially the "Wild Beast" Fauves

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted ...

, and Andre Derain. Through mutual respect and personal discussions, The Averys and their style was influential to the development of friends Rothko, Gotlieb, and Newman's styles in Abstract Expressionism.

Residencies

*Yaddo Colony Fellowship, Saratoga Springs, NY (1955-1956) * MacDowell Colony Fellowship, Peterborough, NH (1953, 1954,1956)

Selected exhibitions

* ''Painting and Sculpture by Wives of Painters and Sculptors'', Contemporary Arts Gallery, NY (1933) *Paul Kessler Gallery, Provincetown, MA (1959) *''Oil Paintings by Sally Michel,'' Galerie du Jonelle, Palm Springs, CA (1973) *Waverly Gallery (1981) *''American Masters: Works on Paper from The Corcoran Gallery of Art'', Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and The Corcoran Gallery of Art, DC (1986) * ''Sally Michel: The Other Avery,'' University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA (1987-1988) *''American Women Artists: The Twentieth Century,'' Knoxville Museum of Art, TN (1988 - 1990) *''Seventy-five American Modernists'', Corcoran Gallery of Art, DC (1989–90) *''Sally Michel: Mountain Landscapes'', The Erpf Catskill Cultural Center, Arkville, NY (1979) * ''Sally Michel'', Fresno Art Museum, CA, (1990) * ''Preserving the Past, Securing the Future: Donations of Art, 1987-1997'', National Museum of Women in the Arts, DC. (1997–98) * ''Sally Michel: Retrospectiv''e, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA (1999-2000) * ''Sally Michel/Milton Avery: A Portrait'', Knoedler & Company, NY (2003) *''Sally Michael'', D. Wigmore Fine Art (2016) *''Sally Michel Avery: Landscapes and Figures,'' Anne Loucks Gallery (2018) *''Sally Michel: Idyllic Moments'', Childs Gallery (2019) *''Summer with the Averys'', Bruce Museum (2019)

Selected collections

New York, NY Link to Museum Collection Record

* National Gallery of Art (Corcoran Collection), Washington, DC Link to Museum Collection Record

*

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

, Washington, DC * National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC *

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

, Philadelphia, PA Link to Museum Collection Record

* Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY * Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA * Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA * Israel Museum, Jerusalem *

Reading Public Museum The Reading Public Museum is a museum in West Reading, Pennsylvania. The museum's permanent collection mainly focuses on art, science, and civilization. It also has a planetarium and a arboretum. Collection The museum's art collection cont ...

, Reading, PA *

Smith College Museum of Art The Smith College Museum of Art (abbreviated SCMA), is an art museum in Northampton, Massachusetts connected with Smith College. The museum is known for its compilation of American and European art of the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by ...

, Northampton, MA * University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA * Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avery, Sally 1902 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American painters American Expressionist painters