Nude with Guitar

Milton Avery, Nude with Guitar, 1947, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Louis and Annette Kaufman, 1977.43.1
Copied Milton Avery, Nude with Guitar, 1947, oil on canvas, 42 x 30 in. (106.7 x 76.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Louis and Annette Kaufman, 1977.43.1

Artwork Details

Title
Nude with Guitar
Artist
Date
1947
Location
Dimensions
42 x 30 in. (106.7 x 76.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Louis and Annette Kaufman
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure — full length
  • Figure — nude
  • Performing arts — music — guitar
  • Object — furniture — chair
  • Object — other — container
Object Number
1977.43.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1977.43.1

Artwork Description

Milton Avery was often dismissed as a naive painter because he did not seem as sophisticated as the elite abstract expressionists who took the stage after World War II. Avery borrowed this figure's pose from Picasso, and, in fact, Nude with Guitar reflects Avery’s knowledge of modern literature as well as painting. He was fond of Wallace Stevens's 1937 poem "The Man with the Blue Guitar," based on Picasso's famous Blue Period image. The poem praised the power of art to transform everyday moments into transcendent experiences, and the guitar became Avery's personal symbol of this power, appearing in many of his canvases (Hobbs, Milton Avery, 1990).