Course Offering

MILTON AVERY: PROGRESSIVE IMAGES

Western Gallery, Western Washington University

Winter Quarter 1989: Tuesday - Thursday, 2 - 3:15 PM

A special course will be offered winter quarter in conjunction with the new Western Gallery's opening exhibition of the paintings and drawings of Milton Avery, 20th century American painter. Avery was an East Coast artist active during the 1930s -1960s. His spectacular color and simplified realist style earned the respect of artists and critics and gained him wide popularity.

The context and art historical Impact of Avery's art will be explored. Focus will be on the works in the gallery, and students will have the opportunity to scrutinize the actual art works and do responsive writing projects. The work of other artists who have shared Avery's aesthetic concerns will also be explored (such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Mark Rothko). During the quarter, the expert on Avery's work, Marla Price, will come to give a talk.

The course will be taught by Ellen Harkins Wheat, visiting Associate Professor, Art History. Dr. Wheat is the author of Jacob Lawrence, American Painter (1986), a monograph on America's foremost living black painter, and she developed the traveling retrospective exhibition of Lawrence's work initiated by the Seattle Art Museum in 1986. 

ART HISTORY 397 Milton Avery: Context and Impact Professor Ellen Harkins Wheat Winter Quarter Tuesday-Thursday, 2 - 3:15

Prereq: Art Surveys, or Instructor permission