Over her long career as an artist and illustrator, Sally Michel (1902–2003) befriended the Abstract Expressionists, earned prestigious residencies at the Yaddo and MacDowell art colonies, and helped forge a new style in mid-century painting between realism and abstraction. Yet to many, she is an unfamiliar name because her accomplishments have been overshadowed by those of the more famous Milton Avery, her husband.

Last year the Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Florida, a state where the couple often traveled for inspiration and relaxation, mounted the first solo museum exhibition of Michel’s work in over 20 years. In late January the show opened at the Morris Museum, in Morristown, New Jersey, occupying three galleries of the historic, Georgian-style mansion designed by McKim, Mead & White.

The exciting show, “Sally Michel, Brilliant Legacy,” which includes over 40 paintings created between the 1930s and the 1990s, seeks to establish a more robust place for Michel in art history’s male-dominated narrative, particularly in her generation. The survey includes Matisse-like nudes that highlight the sinuous lines of the body; lyrical landscapes depicting poetic moments in nature; and simplified genre scenes of friends and family that capture the fleeting emotions of everyday life in expressionistic color fields. “Sally Michel was an important artist not really given her due because there was so much energy around Milton Avery,” said Thomas J. Loughman, president and CEO of the Morris Museum. “Yet she was his equal in this most interesting mid-century circle of artists.” As soon as he saw the show at the Mennello—like the Morris, a Smithsonian affiliate—Loughman said he knew he had to bring it to the region, adding, “It’s such a New York story.”

To read the complete story or to see all photos, visit the MILIEU Newsstand to purchase this issue in print or visit Zinio.com to purchase this issue in digital format.

WRITTEN BY ANN LEVIN

This story appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of MILIEU.