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signed Milton/Avery and dated 1944, c.l.; also inscribed Girl with Folded Arms/by/Milton Avery/1944 on the reverse oil on canvas Early in 1944 Milton Avery entered into a contractual agreement with influential gallery owner Paul Rosenberg, prompting a pivotal shift in the artist's career. This contract provided both newfound financial security for Avery and entrée into Rosenberg's inner circle of the most avant-garde European artists. Avery thrived as a result of this new business relationship; always a prolific artist, he produced more works in 1944 than any other year of his career and distinct changes in the artist's style abruptly followed. Always an artist of compelling candor, Avery began to intensify the economical simplification of his compositions. With an unflinching resolve towards his vision, he did not hesitate to suppress perspective, chiaroscuro, and even draftsmanship. Barbara Haskell writes, "He replaced the brushy paint application and graphic detailing that had informed his previous efforts with denser more evenly modulated areas of color contained within crisply delineated forms. The result was a more abstract interlocking of shapes and a shallower pictoral space than he had previously employed. Avery retained color as the primary vehicle of feeling and expression, but achieved a greater degree of abstraction by increasing the parity between recognizable forms and abstract shapes" (Milton Avery: Paintings from the Collection of the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York, 1994, pp. 8-9). The artist's treatment of the surface became paramount as he reduced the materiality of the paint to ensure that tactile perceptions would not infringe on the viewer's encounter with color. This painting will be included in Dr. Marla Price's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of works by Milton Avery.