Lilian May Miller (July 20, 1895 – January 11, 1943) was an American
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
,
woodblock printmaker and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
born in Tokyo, Japan. In the world of art she marked her place with imagery, while she attended presentations in traditional
kimono
The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...
s, and signed her paintings with a
monogram
A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series o ...
.
She practiced
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
,
watercolor painting
Watercolor (American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the U ...
,
book illustrations,
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
, and
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...
. Trained in Japan in traditional painting styles and techniques, Lilian May Miller created lyrical sketches, ink paintings and woodblock prints representing people and landscapes from Japan and
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, the countries where she spent most of her life.
Personal life
Early life and education
Lilian May Miller was born in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, Japan, on July 20, 1895.
[Lilian May Miler. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925; Collection Number: ARC Identifier 583830 / MLR Number A1 534; NARA Series: M1490; Roll #: 363.] Her father, Ransford Miller, was an American diplomat
[Katrina Gulliver. ]
Modern Women in China and Japan: Gender, Feminism and Global Modernity Between the Wars
'. I.B.Tauris; 15 March 2012. . p. 113. who had worked for the
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
in Tokyo from 1890 to 1894.
[John William Leonard; William Frederick Mohr; Frank R. Holmes. ]
Who's who in New York City and State
'. L.R. Hamersly Company; 1907. p. 936. From 1895 to 1909 he was a legation interpreter. In 1894 Ransford Miller married Lilly Murray, who had arrived in Japan in 1888
[Lilly Murray Miller. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Special Diplomatic Passport Applications, 1916-1925; Collection Number: ARC Identifier 1150702 / MLR Number A1 537; Box #: 4222; Volume #: 6.] and taught English.
Lilian had a sister named Harriet, who her father called "Hal"; Lilian was called "Jack".
[Katrina Gulliver. ]
Modern Women in China and Japan: Gender, Feminism and Global Modernity Between the Wars
'. I.B.Tauris; 15 March 2012. . p. 126.
In 1904, at the suggestion of well known
etcher
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
and
engraver Helen Hyde
Helen Hyde (April 6, 1868 – May 13, 1919) was an American etcher and engraver. She is best known for her color etching process and woodblock prints reflecting Japanese women and children characterizations.
Life
Born in Lima, New York, Hyde spe ...
(1868–1919), Ransford Miller enrolled nine-year-old Lilian in the atelier of
Kanō Tomonobu (1843–1912),
[Clay Lancaster]
''The Japanese Influence in America.''
New York: Walton H. Rawls, 1963. p. 241. who was the 9th generation head of the famous
Kanō school
The is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting from the late 15th century until the Meiji period which began in 1868, by which time the school had divided into many di ...
in Tōkyō.
[Bertha Evelyn Jaques. ]
Helen Hyde and Her Work: An Appreciation
'. Libby Company, printers; 1922. p. 14. Three years later she exhibited her first works. Her distinct ''gô'' (art name) that she used as her professional name was ''Gyokka'' which means jeweled flower.
When she was in her teens her father became head of the State Department's Far Eastern Department was transferred back to
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and for the first time she left Japan and went to the United States. Miller attended the
Central High School in Washington, D.C., and at the age of 14 won first prize for a Washington Post art contest with ''Early Morning in Old Japan.'' She went to Vassar College in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, attended the college during part of the time writer and professor
Sophia Chen Zen studied there, and she was a classmate of poet
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...
. She graduated with honors in 1917.
[Vassar College. ]
General Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Vassar College
'. Haight; 1920. p. 208.
Adulthood
Then she went to
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, Korea in 1918, where her father was now the American Consul General. She was a journalist and secretary at the State Department in Washington, D.C. Miller then lived with her parents in New York and worked at the Consular Service. She was a clerk and confidential secretary at the American embassy in 1920. After a brief period at the State Department, she returned to Tokyo in 1920.
She was in financial ruin after the Great Kanto earthquake of September 1, 1923, when many of her prints and paintings were destroyed. Miller lived with her parents in Seoul, Korea from 1923 until 1927
or 1928. While in Korea, Miller made prints and recuperated over a long period of time from a serious illness.
In 1930 Miller returned to Japan and moved to
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
. Her father returned to the U.S. and became head of the Far Eastern Department in the State Department, Washington. He died in 1932 and his remains were buried at Yokohama Foreign Cemetery.
[Kendall H. Brown; Lilian Miller; Pacific Asia Museum. ''Between two worlds: the life and art of Lilian Miller''. Pacific Asia Museum; 1998. .]
In 1935, Miller had surgery for a large cancerous tumor and a hysterectomy. In early 1936, after a political imbroglio in which Japanese radical officers assassinated several leading politicians, Miller and her mother left Japan and moved to
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
. In the autumn of 1938 she moved to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and she began to include the massive
redwoods
Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world.
Description
The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from co ...
and
cedars of California in her work. In her personal life she hiked California's
San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Tr ...
and wandered through
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
.
She lived a life of contradictions. Miller wore kimonos when she showed her work – which reflected her east Asian upbringing – but also wore men's clothes and called herself "Jack". The kimono represented the Japanese traditional culture in which she was raised, but she didn't follow the strict protocols for developing wood block printing, this was something that made her popular with Americans. Her parents were from the United States, but she lived most of her life in Asia. She is assumed to have been a lesbian and once said that she didn't have the ability to make herself fall in love with a man.
Following the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
in December 1941, she destroyed much of her woodprint works, having felt betrayed by Japan. During the war, Miller worked against the Japanese. She signed on with a Naval counter propaganda branch as a Japanese censor and research analyst. On December 9, 1942, she had surgery to remove a large malignant tumor at a hospital at Stanford University. She died on January 11, 1943, of abdominal cancer in California. Her ashes were buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in San Francisco, California.
Art
Painting
After her Vassar graduation, she returned to Japan to study from 1917 to 1918 with Shimada Bokusen. While in Tokyo, Miller received recognition for her ink painting of Queen Min's Gyeongbok Palace pavilion entitled ''In a Korean Palace Garden'' in 1920. She received an award at the Japanese Imperial Salon for the work.
In the 1930s, during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, Miller evolved to a new style of popular
watercolor painting
Watercolor (American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the U ...
. She made over 100 watercolor paintings, usually working outdoors.
Woodblock printing
Miller made ''
Shin-hanga
was an art movement in early 20th-century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods, that revitalized the traditional ''ukiyo-e'' art rooted in the Edo and Meiji periods (17th–19th century). It maintained the traditional ''ukiyo-e'' co ...
''
woodblock prints
Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...
, a 20th-century version of traditional ''
Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...
'' prints, or pictures of the floating world, which were popular beginning in the 1700s. Because they were prints they were readily available and inexpensive artworks.
Edmond and
Jules de Goncourt
Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt (; 17 December 183020 June 1870) was a French writer, who published books together with his brother Edmond. Jules was born and died in Paris. His death at the age of 39 was at Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy of a stroke b ...
created greater interest in Japanese work as an art form in the late 19th century, partly through Edmond's books ''Outamaro'' and ''Hokousai''. They first identified the cultural movement of ''
Japonism
''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japon ...
e''. Of the western women who began making ''shin-hanga'' wood prints, or "creative prints", Miller was the only one born in the orient. The others, who had all lived in Japan, were
Helen Hyde
Helen Hyde (April 6, 1868 – May 13, 1919) was an American etcher and engraver. She is best known for her color etching process and woodblock prints reflecting Japanese women and children characterizations.
Life
Born in Lima, New York, Hyde spe ...
, who first made the Japanese prints in 1901, Elizabeth Keith and
Bertha Lum
Bertha Boynton Lum (1869 – 1954) was an American artist known for helping popularize the Japanese and Chinese woodblock print outside of Asia.
Early life
In May 1869, Lum was born as Bertha Boynton Bull in Tipton, Iowa. Lum's father was Jose ...
. The ''shin-hanga'' prints included scenes from the contemporary world, like western dress and electricity.
[Katrina Gulliver. ]
Modern Women in China and Japan: Gender, Feminism and Global Modernity Between the Wars
'. I.B.Tauris; 15 March 2012. . pp. 115-116.
Woodblock print production was traditionally a team effort, led by the artist's direction. Several woodblocks were cut from the artist's sketch and watercolor painting, each woodblock for a specific color. Then a printer would make prints by pressing the woodblock with its associated colored ink onto paper. Miller did the work herself, creating the initial image and woodcuts and making the prints.
[Katrina Gulliver. ]
Modern Women in China and Japan: Gender, Feminism and Global Modernity Between the Wars
'. I.B.Tauris; 15 March 2012. . p. 116.
In September 1920 she turned to
woodblock printing
Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...
, creating images of Korean people and countryside, which she sold in Tōkyō and the United States. She was living as the tenant of the artist and promoter
Bertha B. Lum (1869–1954). Miller began to work with the block-carver Matsumoto, who had previously worked for Helen Hyde, and the printer Nishimura Kumakichi (1861 – ca. 1941), whom Bertha Lum relied on for her own print productions. Shortly thereafter there was a dramatic falling-out between the two artists. Miller also struggled with a relationship with Elizabeth Keith, who began as a friend but later developed into a rival. From 1920, she made her living as a printmaker. The images, mostly of scenes of Korean life, were sold in Tokyo, Seoul, large American cities, Shanghai, and Peking. Many of Miller's prints were produced on postcards.
On September 1, 1923, Tōkyō was largely destroyed by the
Great Kantō earthquake
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
, including most of Miller's paintings and prints. Miller was in Korea from 1923 to 1927. During that time she produced more stylized prints. Miller made prints of domestic scenes, like children at play or women hanging laundry. One of her prints, ''A Strange Scene in Korea'', depicted a woman carrying a baby on her back with a basket over her head. Another is entitled, ''Korean Farm House under the Moonlight'' with a man talking to a woman with a basket over her head.
In ''Rain Blossoms'' that Miler made in 1928, the colorful umbrellas, or 'blossoms', are contrasted against the plain background of the people's bodies. Willow trees and the bridge are traditional Oriental motifs. It is considered a "beautiful example of Miller's work". Other prints were ''Nikko Gateway,'' ''Makaen Monastery'' and ''Festival of Lanterns.'' Most of her works were scenes of Japan.
Lilian made a six-month visit to the United States in 1929 and 1930 and gave woodblock printing demonstrations at galleries and museums in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco, and Pasadena. During her lectures, exhibitions and one-woman shows, she wore an elaborate
kimono
The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...
. Miller was admired for her ability to execute the entire woodblock printing process, including the block-cutting stage, by herself. Her works were then in the collections of the
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
and the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. In the 1937 exhibition of the ''Honolulu Print Makers'', she exhibited a print depicting bamboo using a lithotint method, a kind of
lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
, that achieved the effect of ink painting. It was entitled ''A Spray of Bamboo'' and won the sixth annual gift print prize.
Female patrons and collectors
She had a network of key female art patrons and admirers of the time, including
Empress Nagako of Japan;
Lou Henry Hoover
Lou Hoover (née Henry; March 29, 1874 – January 7, 1944) was an American philanthropist, geologist, and First Lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933 as the wife of President Herbert Hoover. She was active in numerous community organizatio ...
, the wife of U.S. president
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
;
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Anne Spencer Morrow Lindbergh (June 22, 1906 – February 7, 2001) was an American writer and aviator. She was the wife of decorated pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh, with whom she made many exploratory flights.
Raised in Englewood, New Jers ...
, aviator and spouse of famous
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
; and Grace Nicholson, a renowned
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Its ...
art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art.
An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationshi ...
. It was Nicholson's Pasadena residence, now the
Pacific Asia Museum
USC Pacific Asia Museum is an Asian art museum located at 46 N. Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, California, United States.
The museum was founded in 1971 by the Pacificulture Foundation, which purchased "The Grace Nicholson Treasure House of Orienta ...
, where Miller perhaps felt most at home—outside Japan. Their friendship enabled Miller to meet and make use of many important art contacts on her American trip and afterwards.
Collections
Her work ''Moonlight on Mt. Fuji, Japan'' is in the collections of the
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
.
[''Moonlight on Mt. Fuji''](_blank)
Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
Poetry
In 1927, Miller published a revised version of her poetry book ''Grass Blades from a Cinnamon Garden'', which was illustrated with her woodcut prints. Author Kendall H. Brown stresses the visual quality of many of the poems, and concludes that while "her poetry was often flat and contrived, her art was becoming increasingly radiant and natural." A number of the poems in the volume are ardent expressions of love addressed, it seems, to women, and Brown remarked: "The feminized Orient, alternately maternal and sexual, is easily linked to the desired lover who is at once the gentle teacher and the object of amorous desire. Thus, the Orient becomes the lover and the lover becomes the Orient, both ideal states of grace and sites of feminine creativity."
[Kendal H. Brown. (1998) ''Between Two Worlds: The Life and Art of Lilian May Miller'' (first edition). Pasadena: Pacific Asia Museum; an illustrated edition was published by University of Washington Press, 2000).]
Posthumous recognition
Miller's paintings and prints, as well as those of Bertha Lum, Elizabeth Keith and Helen Hyde, were exhibited in the June 2012 show "Visions of the Orient" of 125 paintings and prints at the Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon. Each of the women lived in Asia from 1900 to 1940, made woodblock prints in Japan and were trained painters.
"Art Notes."
Eugene, Oregon: ''The Register Guard'', April 19, 2012.
In 2015, an exhibit of 70 works from the Gana Foundation for Arts and Culture made by Miller, Elizabeth Keith, Bertha Lum, Yoshida Hiroshi, Paul Jacoulet, and Willy Selier was held from February to March 1 at Gana Insa Art Center in Seoul.
Publications
* Woodblock print illustrations by the author.
* Illustrated by Lilian Miller.
*
See also
Other western women who lived in Japan and made woodprints
* Helen Hyde
Helen Hyde (April 6, 1868 – May 13, 1919) was an American etcher and engraver. She is best known for her color etching process and woodblock prints reflecting Japanese women and children characterizations.
Life
Born in Lima, New York, Hyde spe ...
* Bertha Lum
Bertha Boynton Lum (1869 – 1954) was an American artist known for helping popularize the Japanese and Chinese woodblock print outside of Asia.
Early life
In May 1869, Lum was born as Bertha Boynton Bull in Tipton, Iowa. Lum's father was Jose ...
Notes
References
External links
Permanent Collection,Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College
Prints, Hanga Online Gallery
Artelino Auction Gallery
ArtFact Auction Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Lilian May
American watercolorists
1895 births
1943 deaths
American women painters
American women printmakers
20th-century American painters
20th-century American women artists
Women watercolorists
20th-century American printmakers
Deaths from cancer in California
20th-century American women painters