Girl with a parasol
by Richard Edward Miller

Richard Edward Miller was a student for five years at the Saint Louis School of Fine Arts, and a contributor to the Saint Louis Post Dispatch. In 1898 he obtained a grant and pursued his studies at the Académie Julian in Paris where he was a student of Benjamin Constant and of Jean-Paul Laurens. He remained in France for over twenty years. From 1906 he worked at St-Jean-du-Doigt in Brittany and particularly in Giverny. Miller taught at the Académie Colarossi in Paris during the academic year and gave summer classes in St-Jean-du-Doigt and Giverny. He was a member of the Salmagundi Club, of the Association of American Artists in Paris and the Group of American Painters in Paris. He returned to the US during World War I. For the most part, Miller painted human figures and open-air studies like his friend Frieseke, in contrast with his own earlier scenes of Parisian night-life executed before 1905 in which the influence of Degas and Manet could be seen. His preference was for pure, bright brushed colours reminiscent of Bonnard, and his portraits showed a gentle sensuality.

In 1901 Miller took part in the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris for the first time and was awarded a Gold Medal. He won a second medal in 1904 and the Légion d'Honneur in 1906. In 1904 he took part in the Universal Exhibition in St Louis, and in 1910 the 'Giverny Group' exhibition in New York together with Frieseke, Parker and Rose. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1908.

Group Exhibitions

1992, Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France 1865-1915, Musée d'Art Américain, Terra Foundation for American Art, Giverny
2002, L'Impressionnisme américain 1880-1915, Hermitage Foundation, Lausanne
2007, Giverny Impressionniste: une Colonie d'Artistes, 1885-1915, Musée d'Art Américain, Terra Foundation for American Art, Giverny
2008, Portrait of a Lady: Paintings and Photographs of American Women in France 1870-1915, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux
Solo Exhibitions

1997, A Bright Oasis: The Paintings of Richard E. Miller, Jordan-Volpe Gallery, New York

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Blérancourt (Mus. Fraco-américain du Château): La Toilette (1904); Portrait of a Woman (before 1914)
Chicago (Terra Foundation for American Art Collection): Café de Nuit (by 1906); The Pool (c. 1910, oil on canvas); The White Shawl (after 1910, oil on canvas)
Detroit (IA): Summer Reverie (c. 1914, oil on canvas)
Indianapolis (MA): Afternoon Tea (1910, oil on canvas)
Paris (Mus. d'Orsay)
Pittsburgh (Carnegie MA): Reflection (c. 1915, oil over tempera on canvas)
Rome (Gal. Nazionale d'Arte Moderna)
St Louis (Washington University): Portrait of Elisha H. Gregory (1902, oil on canvas); Arthur Eugene Ewing (c. 1920s, oil on canvas)
Washington DC (Smithsonian American AM): The Necklace (c. 1924, oil on canvas)