Miller Gore Brittain (November 12, 1912 – January 21, 1968) was a Canadian artist from

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...

Early life

Brittain was born and raised in Saint John. He studied art with Elizabeth Russell Holt in Saint John and under Harry Wickey in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In 1932, after living in New York, he returned to Saint John, where he worked at clerical and construction jobs and opened an art studio on the waterfront. During this period, he captured realistic scenes of everyday life in the city which incorporated social commentary. During the 1930s, he joined the

Oxford Group The Oxford Group was a Christian organization (first known as ''First Century Christian Fellowship'') founded by the American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. Fur ...

, a Christian organization.

Life in Saint John

Saint John, New Brunswick street scape, Princess St

After studying in New York, Brittain felt he didn't have to leave the region to make a career as an artist. However, at the time Saint John was still recovering from three major fires and was in the middle of the Depression. As a young man he worked as a draftsman and worked on the docks while working on his craft amongst a thriving arts community including Ruth Starr, Ted Campbell, Fred Ross and Jack Humphrey. In January 1949, his first major exhibit was held at the

New Brunswick Museum The New Brunswick Museum, located in Saint John, New Brunswick, is Canada's oldest continuing museum. The New Brunswick Museum was incorporated as the "Provincial Museum" in 1929 and received its current name in 1930, but its history goes back muc ...

in Saint John. The exhibition was so popular he went on to do a series of solo shows in New York. Brittain was an icon of the Saint John arts community and presence is still felt in the city's arts scene today. The popular Britt's Pub, named for the artist, is on the ground floor of his studio at 42 Princess St.

Career

Brittain is considered one of Canada's most prolific painters. His work broke from the style current at the time of the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is officiall ...

when landscapes dominated Canada's art scene. Brittain focused on working class life in his hometown of Saint John with his signature style of social realism. He was a founding member of the

Federation of Canadian Artists The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) is an association of artists in Canada founded in Toronto in 1941. The FCA soon had chapters across the country, and was one of the main forces behind formation of the Canada Council in 1957. After this, the ...

in 1941. In the early 1940s, Brittain joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and was posted to the 78th Squadron of the R.A.F. Bomber Command, as a bomb-aimer. He was commissioned in November 1944 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1945, he was appointed an official Second World War artist. One of his works, ''Night Target, Germany'' (1946), depicts a bombing raid over Germany. After the war, his paintings took on a more surreal aspect, taking as their subject biblical topics, abstract figures, nudes and flowers. In 1947, Brittain won a prize from the

Canadian Society of Graphic Art The Canadian Society of Graphic Art (CSGA), originally called the Graphic Arts Club, was a non-profit organization of Canadian graphic artists. It was founded in 1904, and formally chartered in 1933. At one time it was one of the larger organizatio ...

and the next year he held two one-person shows at St. John in the

and in Dayton, Ohio, at the Dayton Museum. He married Connie Starr in 1951; he was devastated by her death from cancer seven years later and was treated several times for

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

in his later life. He died of a stroke in 1968 at the age of 55. In 1968, Brittain was awarded the

Canadian Centennial Medal The Canadian Centennial Medal (french: Médaille du centenaire du Canada) is a commemorative medal struck by the Royal Canadian Mint in 1967 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation and was awarded to Canadians who were ...

posthumously for his contribution to Canadian art.

Posthumous reputation

Brittain's work is held in private collections and a number of art galleries in Canada including the

Beaverbrook Art Gallery The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is a public art gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is named after William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, who funded the building of the gallery and assembled the original collection. It opened i ...

, the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

and the

Canadian War Museum The Canadian War Museum (french: link=no, Musée canadien de la guerre; CWM) is a national museum on the country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history, in ad ...

and a retrospective of his work has been held at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (2007) which travelled to the

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located on a property in Kleinburg, an unincorporated village in Vaughan. The property includes the museum's main building, a sculpture garde ...

. The

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

produced a film based on his life in 1981. The film was awarded Best Overall Entry at the

Atlantic Film Festival FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival (known as The Atlantic International Film Festival until 2017) is a major international film festival held annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada since 1980. FIN is the largest Canadian film festival ...

in 1982.

Record sale price

In January 2022 his 1964 painting ''Figures on a Beach'' sold for $330,000

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

in an online auction held by Liz Isaac & Citadel Gallery Auctions owned by Mario Brideau and Liz Isaac of Saint John. This was a record sale price for an oil painting by Brittain. The work was part of the estate of Brittain's daughter Jennifer.

Notes

External links

* *
War Art in Canada: A Critical History
' by Laura Brandon, published by the Art Canada Institute {{DEFAULTSORT:Brittain, Miller 1912 births 1968 deaths 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Artists from Saint John, New Brunswick Canadian war artists World War II artists Canadian expatriates in the United States 20th-century Canadian male artists