Robert Alexander Darrah Miller was one of the most accomplished landscape painters in Bucks County, although he resisted being labeled as such; indeed, he resisted all labels. Some of Miller’s finest work has been assembled in “An Independent Spirit: The Art and Life of R.A.D. Miller,” on exhibit at the Michener Art Museum, August 15 to January 3.
Born in Philadelphia, Miller studied with Daniel Garber at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He moved to Bucks County the year after he graduated and married Celia Belden Marshall, a former actress and the daughter of the owner of Phillips’ Mill.
Miller and Celia had two children, but according to his daughter Darragh, each of his paintings was also like a child to him and he struggled with selling them. Instead, he made his living mainly by commissions, which were mostly portraits.
“An Independent Spirit” is curated by Dr Cher Krause Knight, associate professor of art history at Emerson College in Boston who wrote the companion publication while serving as the Michener’s Helen Hartman Gemmill Research Fellow. The 64-page book has more than 30 color images, and is in the DeNoon Museum Shop.
Paintings by some of Bucks County’s more familiar impressionist painters overshadowed Miller’s work, although they were all friends and colleagues. Miller lived his life and made his art on his own terms, but “had great regard for convention and its keepers, chief among them Daniel Garber,” writes Knight in her book. “Yet there seemed to be something restless about him, a personal dissatisfaction with the status quo of Pennsylvania landscape painting and impressionism in particular, which led his style in a quiet progression toward more forward-looking explorations, despite his vocal hesitations about the ‘moderns.'”
Miller was a Renaissance man in many ways: he was interested in world politics, taught himself Spanish, read about mathematics, was a skilled carpenter, designed jewelry and clothing, and he sailed extensively throughout the Caribbean Islands. After his wife’s death in 1953, he painted less and sunk into depression, committing suicide on December 22, 1966, at age 61.
Knight will present a lecture on Tuesday, August 25, at 1 pm. The $8 member/$15 nonmember fee includes general museum admission. Knight will discuss the challenges in researching this extremely talented artist, beyond the sensationalized aspects of his life, and finds an artist deserving of more recognition.
The James A. Michener Art Museum at 138 South Pine Street. For information, www.michenerartmuseum.org or 215-340-9800.
