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Richard Miller's portrait of fellow artist Charles Biggers
was painted the same year that he received a scholarship that
enabled him to attend the Académie Julien in Paris. In
addition to his signature and the date of 1899, 'St. Louis' is
inscribed in the lower right corner of the painting, indicating
that the portrait of Biggers was done in Miller's native St.
Louis, shortly before his departure for Paris.
A child prodigy, Miller began his studies at the St. Louis
School of Fine Arts at the age of 18, remaining there for 4 years.
He worked as an illustrator for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch for
a couple of years, before winning the scholarship to study in
Paris.
In the "Portrait of Charles Biggers," we can see
indications of Richard Miller's enormous talent and the honors
that were soon to be accorded him and that were later developed
among the French Impressionists: the ease with which Biggers
sits in the chair, the sensitive rendering of his hands and face,
and above all, the living embodiment of his personality through
his intense gaze. Miller was to specialize in portraiture for
the remainder of his career, albeit in a far less formal style.
Two years after arriving in Paris Miller won the first of
two gold medals at the Paris Salons and was offered a teaching
position at the Académie Colarossi, specializing in portraiture.
In 1906, Miller received the very prestigious honor of being
appointed a "Chevalier de Legion d'Honneur." One of
his works, "Vielle Hollandaise" entered the Luxembourg
Museum as a gift from the French government in 1907. In 1907
and 1909, he was awarded his own room at the Venice Biennale.
The height of Miller's career and influence, however, was
achieved in Giverny, painting with Claude Monet from 1906-1914.
Following the French master, Miller concentrated on the effects
of light; his colors became lighter, and his subject matter more
decorative. His work differed from Monet's and most of the French
Impressionists, however, by its strong sense of composition and
vivid color, characterized by his juxtaposition of greens and
purples.
Unlike Monet, Miller continued to concentrate on the human
figure, usually women in sun dappled gardens or lush interiors.
He has been quoted as saying that, "…art's mission
is not literary, the telling of a story, but decorative, the
conveying of a pleasant optical sensation." (See Richard
Zellman, ed. American Art Analog. New York: Chelsea House
Publishers, 1986, p. 764.) Along with Frederick Frieseke, Louis
Ritman, Lawton Parker, Edmund Graecen, and Guy Rose, Miller brought
countless other artists and students to the enclave thirty miles
from Paris to paint at the scenic village of Giverny, much to
the consternation of Monet.
Miller remained in France until the outbreak of the First
World War. In 1906, he had begun teaching students of Mary Wheeler,
an artist who ran a school for young women in Providence, Rhode
Island. Wheeler rented a house in Giverny for her pupils, where
they studied art for the summer. In 1907, Miller married one
of the Wheeler students, Harriette Adams, and in 1909 they had
a child. When Miller returned to America, eventually teaching
at the Stickney School of Art in Pasadena from 1915-1917, he
was enormously influential on the California art scene. From
there, he settled in Provincetown, Massachusetts and with Carl
Frieseke, began the now well-known Provincetown Art Colony. He
continued to summer in Giverny, often bringing a flock of students
with him. He painted a series of murals in the State Capitol
of Missouri from 1919-1923 and later turned to marine painting.
He died in St. Augustine, Florida in 1943.
Richard Miller remains a major figure of American Impressionism,
distinguished from its French counterpart by its continued emphasis
on composition and figural accuracy.
Miller and his work are discussed in most publications on American
Impressionism and his paintings are in museums around the world,
including La Musée d'Orsay, Il Museo de Arte Moderna,
Venice, The Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, The Royal Museum
in Oslo and in most major American museums, including The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Corcoran Gallery
of Art, The Smithsonian Museum of Art, The Detroit Art Institute,
and dozens of other institutions and private collections.
Provenance: Deaccessioned from the St. Louis Art Museum,
2008. Collection of John R. Longmire to 1988.
Condition: A streak of white house paint has been removed
from the center of the painting. It has been lightly cleaned
and is in a reproduction gilt frame. |
