This major exhibition – the first of its kind – presents Milton Avery in dialogue with new and recent work by contemporary artists Henni Alftan, Harold Ancart, March Avery, Andrew Cranston, Gary Hume, Nicolas Party and Jonas Wood.
Curated by Edith Devaney, Artistic Director, MICAS 25 October 2025 – 4 April 2026
Malta International Contemporary Art Space (MICAS) announces a landmark exhibition celebrating the profound and universal artistic legacy of pioneering American painter Milton Avery (1885–1965). Titled Colour, Form and Composition: Milton Avery and His Enduring Inffuence on Contemporary Painting, the exhibition is the first to place Avery’s work in direct dialogue with contemporary artists, and will feature seven internationally acclaimed painters: Henni Alftan, Harold Ancart, March Avery, Andrew Cranston, Gary Hume, Nicolas Party and Jonas Wood. Curated by Edith Devaney – the Artistic Director of MICAS, which launched in October 2024 – the exhibition will run from 25 October 2025 to 4 April 2026.
A seminal figure in 20th-century American art, Avery is celebrated for his mastery of colour, simplified forms and his ability to distil scenes into compositions that balance abstraction with representation. Often described as a ‘painter’s painter,’ his work bridged American Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism, and played a formative role in the development of artists such as Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb and Barnett Newman. Through 58 works, Colour, Form and Composition reveals how Avery’s influence continues to shape contemporary painting, underscoring his place within the evolving trajectory of art history.
Also shown are works by Harold Ancart (b. 1980, Belgium) and Andrew Cranston (b. 1969, Scotland), whose vibrant and serene canvases recall Avery’s ability to evoke a strong sense of place; while Nicolas Party (b. 1980, Switzerland) and March Avery (b. 1932, US), the artist’s daughter, explore the expressive potential of colour that was so central to Avery’s practice. Together, this cross-generational, international group affirms the breadth and depth of Avery’s artistic legacy and his continued relevance today.
Working with Paris-based designer Cécile Degos, the exhibition will be arranged in thematic chapters, fully integrating Avery’s work with those of the contemporary artists. By placing his paintings alongside new works created decades later, the presentation invites unexpected visual dialogues and illuminates alternative readings of both. This curatorial approach shifts Avery’s work beyond its historical frame, underscoring its vitality in the present moment.
Colour, Form and Composition marks the beginning of a new programming strand at MICAS dedicated to re-examining modernist figures and their impact on contemporary art. By tracing Avery’s legacy across time, place and artistic practice, it presents art history not as a linear narrative but as a living, evolving conversation. Building on recent major solo exhibitions of Avery
– including the acclaimed 2022 exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, which toured to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut – this exhibition asserts his place in the canon and introduces his work to a new generation of audiences.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a new publication featuring an essay by curator Edith Devaney, along with exclusive interviews and transcripts with the contemporary artists featured.
