Born in 1902, Sally Michel Avery, also known as Sally Michel, knew by the age of five that she wanted to be an artist. A prolific painter and illustrator, Avery worked in an early modernist style. She attended the Art Students League in New York and exhibited at the Childs Gallery in Boston. 

Sally spent summers painting in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and in 1924, she met and fell in love with the artist in the next studio, Milton Avery. At this time in his career, Milton Avery was painting Impressionist works and was living with his mother in Connecticut. He soon followed Sally to New York, and the two married in 1926.

For the next forty years, the two artists were inseparable. They were each other's model, collaborator, critic and champion. Together they created a style of "high modernist" painting that is most often solely attributed to Milton's hand.

Although they painted side by side, their purposes were quite different. Sally made no effort to exhibit or sell her art, but instead managed Milton's career and the Avery household. For many years, Sally worked as an illustrator for the New York Times, children's books, and other publications, allowing her to be the primary financial supporter for her family until later in life when Milton’s works started selling.

The Averys, along with their daughter, March, spent most summer vacations traveling to much of New England, California, Canada, Mexico, Europe and even Woodstock, allowing Sally more time to paint. Their excursions were often in the company of their close friends and fellow artists, Mark Rothko, Adloph Gotlieb and Barnett Newman.

Although both Milton and Sally painted with the notion of making modern art out of familiar surroundings — often painting each other, their daughter, their friends, their home and the places they vacationed — Sally’s art was somewhat different from her husband’s. She never painted for the market, but rather painted for her own pleasure. Even after Milton’s death, Sally still saw his art as art for the public, and remained mysterious about her own work. She drew little attention to her art as a masterful oeuvre, and stuck to simply capturing the charm and delightfulness of daily life.

By the mid-1950s, their daughter March had grown up and Milton's works had finally begun to sell. Both enabled Sally to devote more time to her own painting. She exhibited at a handful of shows at that time. Her work has since been exhibited in a number of museums and galleries, and can be found in many public and private collections, including the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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