Woman and Palms, 1951, is a Florida motif inspired by Avery’s winters as a fellow at the Research Studio in Maitland (now called the Maitland Art Center). The Maitland Art Colony had been founded in 1937 by J. André Smith under the patronage of Philadelphia philanthropist Mary Louise Curtis Bok, for the advancement of experimental art. Avery was first invited to winter in Maitland as a Bok Fellow in 1949. In 1950–51 the Averys returned in the company of their friends, the painter Wallace Putnam and his wife, photographer Consuelo Kanaga. Florida exerted its influence in a number of ways. Writing in the catalogue for the recent exhibition Summer with the Averys: Milton, Sally, March, in which Woman and Palms was shown, the art historian Kenneth E. Silver notes that, ‘A walled-in compound of low white buildings surrounded by splendid gardens of local flora and elaborately decorated with “Mayan Revival” relief sculpture… the Research Studio clearly energized Milton’s aesthetic, the tropical colors and vegetation perhaps reminiscent of the family’s Mexican trip. Here, though, the cosseted life within its walls brought forth not folkloric motifs but scenes of arcadian relaxation, activated by spiky palm fronds. In one painting, a woman, perhaps Sally, sits with crossed arms against a wall decorated with what appears to be one of Smith’s reliefs…’

It was during this time that Avery began to experiment with monotype printmaking techniques. Calling for swift execution, the process, in which thinned pigment is applied to a surface and each unique image is printed ‘wet’, enabled him to produce many works in quick succession. The directness of this medium led him to incorporate the printmaking technique of diluting pigment with turpentine into many of his later paintings, developing transparency to a sublime degree.

Milton Avery’s work is represented in major museums and private collections worldwide including the Art Institute of Chicago; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; LACMA; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts Boston; MoMA; National Gallery of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Phillips Collection; SFMOMA; Smithsonian American Art Museum; Tate; Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art and the Whitney.