1885-1965 - Milton Avery studied life drawing and painting at the Connecticut League of Art Students in Hartford (enrolling sometime between 1905 and 1911). In 1917. Milton Avery's roots lie in the conjunction of American regionalism and European and American impressionism. Avery began as a relatively traditional painter in the 1920s. With his move to New York in 1925, his style quickly ran counter to the social realism of the time. He combined elements of American impressionism with the simplified shapes of Matisse and the pre-Cubist work of Picasso, Avery began to simplify forms into broad areas of close-valued color. Although Avery's art became increasingly abstract, he never abandoned representational subject matter, painting figure groups, still-life, landscapes, and seascapes. He forged a unique style that became increasingly abstract later in his career. Avery was a unique painter; he never participated in the cerebral introspection and philosophizing of many of his fellow color field associates.