Godfrey Clive Miller

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Godfrey Clive Miller.

Godfrey Clive Miller (born August 20, 1893 in Wellington , New Zealand , † May 10, 1964 in Paddington (New South Wales) , Australia ) was a New Zealand painter .

Life

Godfrey Clive Miller was the second of three children of Scottish bank accountant Thomas Tripney Miller and his New Zealand-born wife Isabella, nee Duthie, who died in 1896. In 1897 his father married Isabella's sister Eliza Jane, and their relationship resulted in four children. After his grandfather's death, Miller inherited part of the John Duthie & Co. Ltd hardware store in Wellington. He attended state schools in Hawera and Palmerston North before moving to Otago Boys' High School boarding school in Dunedin on a scholarship .

At the age of 17 Miller began an apprenticeship with J. Louis Salmond from the architecture firm Salmond & Vanes in Dunedin, he attended courses at the local School of Art and Design ( Dunedin Technical School ) and worked on construction sites. On 20 October 1914 he entered the Military Association of New Zealand Expeditionary Force and served in World War I as a signal transmitter in Turkish Gallipoli . Here he suffered a severe wound on his right upper arm on August 6, 1915, from which a paralysis of the radial nerve and a weak nerve developed. Miller received his discharge from military service on May 30, 1916. On July 25, 1917, he registered with the New Zealand Institute of Architects .

Before the war began, Miller had taken lessons from Alfred O'Keeffe, who had piqued his interest in painting. In 1917 the two worked together again. The following year, Miller submitted one of his drawings to the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts , which was exhibited and awarded. It was not until 1952, however, before the shy Miller went public with his work again. From the 1930s onwards he lived essentially withdrawn, but occasionally enjoyed company and wrote numerous “wonderful letters”. During this time he worked on some of his paintings, often for several years.

In Melbourne Miller enrolled in 1918 at the National Gallery School for the class of the painter William Beckwith McInnes , which he attended from mid-1923 for a second year. He traveled to the Far East in 1919 and was fascinated by the Asian culture and way of thinking. Between 1918 and 1929 he lived mainly in Victoria , where he painted in Warrandyte , and in New South Wales . He made the acquaintance of the group of artists who revived the Australian Art Association in the early 1920s . During this time he was enthusiastic about romantic and symbolist literature . In 1929 he joined the Victorian Artists Society .

From 1929 to 1931 he attended the Slade School of Fine Art in London , from which he graduated with a certificate in sculpture . In 1933 he continued his studies at the school and moved to his own rooms near the school after changing accommodation in student stalls in the Paddington district . In the following year, however, he lost his interest in working in the institution.

The well-read Miller had followed the approaches of other artists in the belief that past and present art are the key to the creativity of the future. He was passionate about metaphysics and joined the British Institute of Philosophy . In the late 1930s, theosophy came closest to him in his mystical inclinations, with which he entered the Anthroposophical Society in Australia .

Miller's geometric-classical style was based on the abstraction of natural forms. He went from being a conservative naturalist painter based on the artistic tradition of the 19th century , when he came to London and quickly worked his way through Impressionism and Post-Impressionism , to a well-trained and experienced modern artist , as he left town.

Because Miller returned to Australia via New Zealand in early 1939 and lived in pensions in central Sydney. In 1954 he bought a house in the Paddington neighborhood overlooking Rushcutters Bay , which is occasionally seen in his paintings. As usual, he lived frugally and painted alone until he became active as a teacher in 1948 with part-time teaching at East Sydney Technical College . His students were impressed by his commitment and aesthetic sensitivity.

In 1952 he exhibited his paintings with the Sydney Art Group . The next year he showed his work in London, the first of several successful appearances abroad. The Tate Gallery acquired his triptych with figures , created between 1938 and 1954, in 1961 . The second of Miller's four solo exhibitions was a 1959 retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria , for which he published philosophical texts about his paintings. 1962 followed in Sydney a book with 40 illustrations of his drawings.

Godfrey Clive Miller died on May 10, 1964 at his Paddington home; he was cremated according to the Anglican rite. The large number of paintings found in his home formed the basis for the Godfrey Miller Memorial Exhibition , Sydney 1965.

Works (selection)

  • Landscape, Woronora , 1953-1955
  • Still Life with Comport and Fruit , 1936-1940
  • Still Life with Green Curtain and Comport , 1950-1952
  • Abstract garden
  • Composition with Lute
  • The Green Ginger Jar
  • Nocturne Trees , 1950
  • Fig trees
  • Summer , 1957-1959
  • Apples , 1944-1946
  • Madonna No.1 , 1960–1962
  • The Four Seasons , 1948-1952
  • Bottles , 1938-1941
  • Fruit bowl and window
  • Bridge, Paris , 1936
  • Abstract The Arch, Sydney , 1939-1945

literature

  • J. Henshaw: Godfrey Miller . Sydney 1966.
  • G. Dutton: The Innovators . Melbourne 1986.
  • D. Edwards: Godfrey Miller. 1893-1964 . Sydney 1996.
  • Ann Wookey: The Life and Work of Godfrey Clive Miller, 1893-1964 . PhD thesis, La Trobe University , Melbourne 1994.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ann Wookey: Miller, Godfrey Clive (1893-1964). Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 15, National Center of Biography, Australian National University , Canberra 2000.
personal data
SURNAME Miller, Godfrey Clive
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand painter
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Wellington , New Zealand
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1964
Place of death Paddington, New South Wales , Australia