Richard E Miller Original Antique Giverny Colony of American Impressionist Artist Pasadena California Figurative Oil Painting Red Macaw Bird
Richard E. Miller ((March 22, 1875 – January 23, 1943) was an American Impressionist painter and a member of the Giverny Colony of American Impressionists. Miller was primarily a figurative painter, known for his paintings of women posing languidly in interiors or outdoor settings. Miller grew up in St. Louis, studied in Paris, and then settled in Giverny. Upon his return to America, he settled briefly in Pasadena, California and then in the art colony of Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he remained for the rest of his life. Miller was a member of the National Academy of Design in New York and an award winning painter in his era, honored in both France and Italy, and a winner of France’s Legion of Honor.
Of his classic American Impressionist paintings, production is divided between works that were done in Paris, usually in darker tonalities, the brightly colored works done in Giverny, a brief but productive period in Pasadena and then his years in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Miller painted landscapes on occasion, but they are rare in Miller's artistic production. The women in his paintings were often depicted looking in a mirror or with a necklace in their hands, doing some sort of activity to keep them from being completely idle. The art historian William Gerdts, who has written most extensively on the American Impressionist movement, compared Miller to his friend, Frederick Frieseke: "Miller almost always stressed drawing and structure more than his colleague. The models he chose were quite distinct from Frieseke's, more poignant and lovely, less in the Renoir mode."Late in his career, his work turned darker in palette and more somber in subject and these paintings are not in the same demand as the sunnier depictions of idle women.
In many of these, of Miller's more prominently known works of women, often there is what seems to be a sort of symbolism, portrayed by empty birdcage. It is interesting that in this painting study; it is a Macaw bird; (and not in a cage, but rather, on a stand).
Comparative works catalogued by Richard E. Miller, online:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/514888169868573656/
"Contemplation, Woman Sitting Next to Bird Cage"
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/44684221282816955/
"The Green Cage"
https://akronartmuseum.org/collection/Obj325?sid=380199&x=22938209&port=184
"Tea Time"
https://stilllifequickheart.tumblr.com/tagged/richard-miller
Richard E. Miller
(March 22, 1875 – January 23, 1943)
American Impressionist
Figurative
Painting of a Macaw bird, on a stand
Oil on Academy Board
Signed lower right
Painting alone measures approximately 13"H X 8.5"W, plus frame
Painting is housed in antique frame, from approximately 1898; possibly the original, antique frame
Estimated to have been created between approximately 1898-1902, when the artist worked with Lawton Parker, in Chicago. (Academy board produced approximately 1898)
Painting is in overall good condition. There has been no restoration, or cleanings performed. All paint is original to the painting. There is a longer scratch, near the center of the bird, and a few scattered places of light abrasion/pin dots of missing paint. Please review all images.
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