Sally Michel married Milton Avery in 1926 and over the following 39 years they sketched and painted together continuously. They lived in New York City and every summer traveled extensively constantly sketching and then throughout the year developing their studio paintings mostly from their sketches while traveling.
Sally dedicated herself to her husband’s potential as the truly great artist he became. She was 20 years younger than Milton, the family’s provider as an illustrator, his model and companion and the social connection with all their artist friends allowing Milton to paint daily. Without Sally Milton’s career might not have reached its full potential.
Being such close companions and constantly living with the art created within the family, Sally’s style intersected with Milton’s influence learning much from him. Their collaborative ideas and discoveries such as the washy effect in applying a thinning paint surface with turpentine created a “Colorfield” visual, decades before the stain painting style entered the scene.
Their daughter March was born six years after they were married in 1932. From the age of two she began painting and was surrounded by her parent’s friends who were all artists, later to become some of the most famous artists of the 20th century. Art was her whole world and according to her “the only advise her father ever gave her was to not attend art school” which she didn’t. March’s style is rooted much in the manner of both her parents work but contains a unique vision of her perspective regarding her surroundings, interactions, and outlook on life.
It is without question that all three Avery’s are outstanding colorists. Their collective uniqueness has consisted of vivid and fauvist colors, hues that one can’t put an actual name to, simple shapes, flattened surfaces and abstracted figures all painted in a technique of washy thinned out paint surfaces known as “The Avery Style”.
Their work is so recognizable and identifiable upon viewing that the viewer knows without question it is by an Avery family member. Sally passed away at the age of 100 in 2003 and March is now 90 years old and going strong. Their influence on American painting will last forever as few family dynasties exist in American painting such as the Wyeth family but the Avery’s certainly have cemented their uniqueness in American modernism as strictly an American style much like the roots of jazz which is historically American.