November 11, 2025
“Milton Avery: The Figure,” at Karma, New York (through December 20): Those who know Milton Avery only for his distilled, color-rich landscapes may be surprised by “The Figure,” a sizeable survey of Avery’s portraiture and figurative work, now on view at Karma. With paintings and drawings ranging from the 1920s until his death in 1964, the exhibition reveals an artist who brought expression and idiosyncrasy to the fore. Avery allowed the characteristics of his sitters to shine through the thinness of his pigments, an economy of means that came out of economic necessity. Documenting the visitors who came by the apartment studio he shared with his artist-wife Sally Michel on New York’s West Side, along with summers spent with his family on the Atlantic coast, the exhibition shows the social side of this reserved modern master.
