March Avery’s Lifeguard sold for $20,480 at Doyle’s Impressionist & Modern Art/Post-War & Contemporary Art auction on May 8, 2024 in New York City. The bright hued oil on canvas evokes nostalgia for the carefree beach days of childhood and is a perfect fit for our summer cover. The painting, along with many others by Avery, is rooted in her childhood; the Avery family holidayed over long summers, with the destinations serving as inspiration. Like many of Avery’s works, which often sell over their valuation, Lifeguard sold for roughly double its $8,000- $12,000 estimate.
Born to artist parents, Avery’s innate ability to paint was visible early on. She began painting and drawing around age two and never received formal artistic training. A natural, Avery trained by observing her parents at work and inherited the family style—simplified compositions with flat picture planes and bold colors. Her subject matter centered around her private life, typically featuring domestic scenes, portraits of family and friends and landscapes of places she visited.
For Avery, age is nothing but a number as she continues to paint at her New York City home at age 91. Her work appears in public collections nationwide, and in 2022, she had her first solo show overseas in London. Her artwork is also the subject of a forthcoming book this summer. Despite a huge surge of interest in her work, in a recent interview, Avery told TOAST magazine that financial success wasn’t a motivating factor at the start of her career; she simply couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Some of our other favorites from this auction appear throughout the issue.