"Some critics like to pin Matisse on me....But I don't think he has influenced my work." * It's hard to believe that Milton Avery actually made that statement. Just take a look at some of his paintings, like Tree Fantasy (Whitney Musuem of American Art, New York), March on the Balcony (Phillips Collection, Washington, DC) and Seated Blonde (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis). Avery's brushwork, sophisticated use of color, and his masterful reduction of forms to simple, playful,