Milton Avery was born in Sand Bank, New York, on 7 March 1885. In 1905 he moved with is family to Hartford, Connecticut, where he was to study part-time at the Connecticut League of Art Students between 1913 and 1918. He first exhibited work at the 'Fifth Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture' at the Annex Gallery of the Wadworth Atheneum, Hartford, in 1915 and had his first solo exhibition at the Green Gate Studio in Hartford in 1924. He left for New York the following year. Between 1926 and 1938 he attended classes at the Art Students League in New York. Although he showed his work in a number of solo exhibitions and group shows, it was not until 1935 that he was allied to a major dealer, Valentine Dudensing. The Valentine Gallery also handled Henri Matisse's work in the United States, which was of great interest to Avery at this time. Avery exhibited in New York regularly, showing with Paul Rosenberg and Company after 1943. In 1944 his first museum exhibition opened at the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington. In 1960 the Whitney Museum of American Art organised a retrospective exhibition of his work which later toured the United States. Avery died in New York on 3 January 1965.