The Art Students League Celebrates 150 Years

The Art Students League of New York is celebrating its 150th anniversary with an exhibition of works by many of its most talented artists. The Art Students League opened in 1875 and has had a profound impact on American Art.

 

From among the thousands of works that are in The League’s collection, and the thousands of artists that have studied there, a work by Milton Avery (1885-1965) was chosen to grace its anniversary poster.

 

Avery did not take classes at The League until he was in his 40s. His life before that was spent supporting his mother and sisters after the death of his father. It was Avery’s wife, Sally Michel Avery, an artist herself, who encouraged Avery to pursue his career as an artist, while she worked as an illustrator to support him and their daughter.

 

The couple’s New York apartment became a meeting place for young artists like Mark Rothko ( 1903-1970) and Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974), who were influenced by Avery’s use of line, color and form. Ironically, Rothko and Gottlieb became more commercially successful than Avery although Avery’s personal life was more successful than most. He was married to Sally for nearly forty years, until his death. It wasn’t until after he died that she discovered that he had lied to her about his age because she was much younger. Their daughter and grandson are both artists. 

 

Avery was often referred to as the American Matisse because of his use of simple shapes and colors and the serene and timeless feeling of his works. It is just in the past few decades that Milton Avery has achieved the recognition that he has always deserved.

 

 

Thomas Hart Benton taught at the Art Students League from 1926 to 1935. He declared himself, “an enemy of modernism". Ironically, he not only mentored, but became like a father to 'modernist' Jackson Pollock, his most famous student.

 

Other artists who attended classes at The Art Students League and whose paintings are available at Surovek Gallery include George Grosz, Alexander Calder, Fairfield Porter, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, Deborah Kass, and Nicholas Carone.

 

Shaping American Art: A Celebration of the Art Students League of New York at 150 will be on view through August 17, 2025.

 

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June 20, 2025