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Lot Essay
Richard E. Miller's sumptuous images of young women in interiors are celebrated as some of the finest achievements of American Impressionism. The present painting, Woman by a Window, is an example of these works demonstrating an exquisitely painted mastery of rich textures and beautiful light. To look at Woman by a Window is to understand why Miller's work was immediately considered a success.
Miller is most often associated with the Giverny Group, a cluster of American painters living in France in the early twentieth century, who sought inspiration and kinship in the small town near Paris. Although nearly all of the artists in the small town of Giverny knew each other, Miller's work is quite distinct from that of his contemporaries. Critics and historians have noted his unique palette for "being 'in a rather lower tone of color,' for which he was no doubt deemed 'the Whistler of the quartet'--it prompted [artist Guy] Pene du Bois to say of it, 'soft and yet brilliant, delicate and yet with a semblance of radicalism a lesson in compromise--a delightful lesson.' The 'compromise' referred to is obviously Miller's mixing academic and Impressionist painting modes. Miller blends them harmoniously in the creation of a decorative, dreamlike atmosphere. He covered the canvas with small dabs, broad strokes, scraped patches, dry swags and floating flecks of color, many independent of literal description." (M.L. Kane, A Bright Oasis: The Paintings of Richard E. Miller, New York, 1997, p. 33)
Woman by a Window is a masterpiece of the type of Impressionist paintings Miller created in Giverny in the early twentieth century. In this work, Miller has faithfully incorporated every hallmark of the style. He typically chose a perspective in his studio from which he could not only paint his model, but also feature the view outdoors. He has rendered the elements he mastered while in Giverny: light and pattern demonstrated in dazzling jewel-like colors. In contrast to the opalescent, smooth rendering of the young woman, the surrounding studio is painted in vivid color in a tapestry of short, dense Impressionist strokes. Miller is able to combine strong draftsmanship, lively color and bold design to create a picture that captures both Impressionist and modern elements harmoniously.
Miller explored the possibilities of expanding his palette and technique. The artist "came into his own as a painter. Combining virtuosic brushwork and highly individual coloring with the subject he painted now almost exclusively--young women, singly or in pairs, in interiors--Miller established a distinctive style...Miller painted a decorative canvas that is as much an interplay of sensuous textures, sinuous contours, and color harmonies, as it is a portrait." (A Bright Oasis: The Paintings of Richard E. Miller, p. 30) Although the painting is representational, the emphasis on shape, line, color and texture reveals Miller's Modernist interest in structure over subject. The painting is composed primarily of rectangular, triangular and circular shapes, whether a mirror, the sail of a boat or an open box.
In the early 1910s Miller's palette lightened, the result of his plein air painting and growing interest in light and color and began to reflect the subtle pastel colors of his surroundings in a manner reminiscent of Renoir. As Miller turned to stronger and more adventurous colors--green and purple was one favored combination--he intensified the reflection of these colors on his figures' skin, creating a highly artificial, decorative surface while maintaining traditional figuration. Miller's daring use of color in Woman by a Window is immediately discernible. The bright blues, rose, greens, oranges and purples are characteristic colors of many Giverny Group paintings and Miller used it to great effect to provide contrast for the glowing skin of the young woman. They are examples of the artist's artistic "license to use the colors in a highly subjective manner dictated by decorative pictorial considerations." (A Bright Oasis: The Paintings of Richard E. Miller, p. 36)
Indeed, Woman by a Window is a brilliant example of Impressionism that is "not a tardy or punched-up imitation of the original style, but reflects a vigorous post-impressionist interest in surface and design. Instead of exploring reality, the [works are] visions of beauty based as much on the means and method of creation as on subject." (A Bright Oasis, The Paintings of Richard E. Miller, p. 33) A rich mix of color, texture and light, Woman by a Window is deserving of the adjectives "radiant" and "jubilant" that critics bestowed on Miller's Giverny paintings.
Miller is most often associated with the Giverny Group, a cluster of American painters living in France in the early twentieth century, who sought inspiration and kinship in the small town near Paris. Although nearly all of the artists in the small town of Giverny knew each other, Miller's work is quite distinct from that of his contemporaries. Critics and historians have noted his unique palette for "being 'in a rather lower tone of color,' for which he was no doubt deemed 'the Whistler of the quartet'--it prompted [artist Guy] Pene du Bois to say of it, 'soft and yet brilliant, delicate and yet with a semblance of radicalism a lesson in compromise--a delightful lesson.' The 'compromise' referred to is obviously Miller's mixing academic and Impressionist painting modes. Miller blends them harmoniously in the creation of a decorative, dreamlike atmosphere. He covered the canvas with small dabs, broad strokes, scraped patches, dry swags and floating flecks of color, many independent of literal description." (M.L. Kane, A Bright Oasis: The Paintings of Richard E. Miller, New York, 1997, p. 33)
Woman by a Window is a masterpiece of the type of Impressionist paintings Miller created in Giverny in the early twentieth century. In this work, Miller has faithfully incorporated every hallmark of the style. He typically chose a perspective in his studio from which he could not only paint his model, but also feature the view outdoors. He has rendered the elements he mastered while in Giverny: light and pattern demonstrated in dazzling jewel-like colors. In contrast to the opalescent, smooth rendering of the young woman, the surrounding studio is painted in vivid color in a tapestry of short, dense Impressionist strokes. Miller is able to combine strong draftsmanship, lively color and bold design to create a picture that captures both Impressionist and modern elements harmoniously.
Miller explored the possibilities of expanding his palette and technique. The artist "came into his own as a painter. Combining virtuosic brushwork and highly individual coloring with the subject he painted now almost exclusively--young women, singly or in pairs, in interiors--Miller established a distinctive style...Miller painted a decorative canvas that is as much an interplay of sensuous textures, sinuous contours, and color harmonies, as it is a portrait." (A Bright Oasis: The Paintings of Richard E. Miller, p. 30) Although the painting is representational, the emphasis on shape, line, color and texture reveals Miller's Modernist interest in structure over subject. The painting is composed primarily of rectangular, triangular and circular shapes, whether a mirror, the sail of a boat or an open box.
In the early 1910s Miller's palette lightened, the result of his plein air painting and growing interest in light and color and began to reflect the subtle pastel colors of his surroundings in a manner reminiscent of Renoir. As Miller turned to stronger and more adventurous colors--green and purple was one favored combination--he intensified the reflection of these colors on his figures' skin, creating a highly artificial, decorative surface while maintaining traditional figuration. Miller's daring use of color in Woman by a Window is immediately discernible. The bright blues, rose, greens, oranges and purples are characteristic colors of many Giverny Group paintings and Miller used it to great effect to provide contrast for the glowing skin of the young woman. They are examples of the artist's artistic "license to use the colors in a highly subjective manner dictated by decorative pictorial considerations." (A Bright Oasis: The Paintings of Richard E. Miller, p. 36)
Indeed, Woman by a Window is a brilliant example of Impressionism that is "not a tardy or punched-up imitation of the original style, but reflects a vigorous post-impressionist interest in surface and design. Instead of exploring reality, the [works are] visions of beauty based as much on the means and method of creation as on subject." (A Bright Oasis, The Paintings of Richard E. Miller, p. 33) A rich mix of color, texture and light, Woman by a Window is deserving of the adjectives "radiant" and "jubilant" that critics bestowed on Miller's Giverny paintings.