Milton Avery, Rothko with Pipe, 1936, National Gallery of Art, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1974.123.1
In the late 1920s, he met the modernist painter
Milton Avery, whose simplified and colorful depictions of domestic subjects
had a profound influence on Rothko's early development, particularly
his application of paint and treatment of color. Avery's home became a meeting place for artists, who attended
weekly life drawing sessions there. Bernard Karfiol, an instructor
at the Art Students League, included Avery and Rothko in Group Exhibition: Artists Selected by Bernard Karfiol,at the Opportunity Gallery in 1928.
