Pilot Fish 1952

This print of Pilot Fish was made by Milton Avery, but the date is unknown. What I love about this print is how the blues and blacks come together, kind of like a nighttime ocean scene. You can almost feel the coolness of the water just by looking at it. It’s as if Avery captured a fleeting moment, an impression rather than a precise depiction. Look closely, and you'll notice how Avery uses the texture of the woodblock to his advantage. The surface isn't perfectly smooth; you can see the grain and the little imperfections, which gives the whole image a kind of handmade, almost folksy feel. The way the blue ink is applied is really interesting—sometimes it's dense, and other times it's more transparent, creating these subtle shifts in tone. It reminds me a bit of some early work by Arthur Dove, particularly in the way he simplifies forms and uses color to evoke mood. But Avery has his own thing going on, a kind of quiet poetry that makes you want to dive right into his watery world.