The exhibition catalog for Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea is available for presale!

The exhibition catalog for Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea is available for presale! Orders will be shipped on the release date, March 24.

Be among the first to experience this landmark publication accompanying the exhibition Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea, celebrating an extraordinary chapter in American art, on view June 30–September 27, 2026 at the Cape Ann Museum. Timed-entry window tickets go on sale June 1, 2026.

This stunning volume illuminates the artistic exchange between three seminal American artists—Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb, and Mark Rothko—underscoring the lasting significance of the summers they spent together by the sea in Gloucester during the 1930s and 1940s.

Twentieth-century American modernist Milton Avery is rarely linked to Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko, who were eighteen years younger and later associated with the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. While Avery drew inspiration from the visible world, Gottlieb and Rothko developed nonrepresentational visual languages of their own. Despite these differences, the three artists formed a close-knit trio whose deep friendship and shared love of the ocean had a profound and lasting influence on their work.

This pioneering publication traces their relationship from 1932, when they first summered together on Cape Ann, through the crystallization of their ideas in the 1940s, and into the decades that followed, when each artist developed the mature, independent painting styles for which they are best known. Their late work, each in its own way, remains indebted to the time they spent together along the rocky coast and sandy beaches of Cape Ann.

Featuring more than 200 images, Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea is a compelling testament to the importance of shared community, time, and place in the evolution of modern art. Contributions by leading art historians and family members offer richly varied perspectives on artistic friendship and its enduring impact on the work of three of the twentieth century’s most celebrated artists.

Prepurchase your catalog at store.capeannmuseum.org