(n/a) Richard Edward Miller (American, 1875-1943)
Untitled (Charlotte Amelie, St. Thomas)
Inscribed 'In September 1948 Donald Christenson who had bought in 1944 the/200 Bradford Street, Provincetown Mass property and studio of the late/Richard E. Miller, N.A.began the cleaning up of the old studio. This/unfinished painting was in an abandoned coal bin and he presented/it to Perry Stranberger of Montclair N.J. and Provoincetown Mr. Stranberger's opinion that it is a scene in Nice France at the Eastern end of the/Promenade des Anglais was sustained by the opinion of R. McGill Mackall,/Baltimore artist and pupil of R. E. Miller in the early 1900's in Paris/Hill in the background is presumed to be the Grande Corniche.' (on reverse)
oil on board
16 x 25in
Inscribed 'In September 1948 Donald Christenson who had bought in 1944 the/200 Bradford Street, Provincetown Mass property and studio of the late/Richard E. Miller, N.A.began the cleaning up of the old studio. This/unfinished painting was in an abandoned coal bin and he presented/it to Perry Stranberger of Montclair N.J. and Provoincetown Mr. Stranberger's opinion that it is a scene in Nice France at the Eastern end of the/Promenade des Anglais was sustained by the opinion of R. McGill Mackall,/Baltimore artist and pupil of R. E. Miller in the early 1900's in Paris/Hill in the background is presumed to be the Grande Corniche.' (on reverse)
oil on board
16 x 25in
Sold for
US$ 8,052
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Marie Louise Kane writes of this painting, 'While there is no documentation regarding this painting other than the conjectures of a former owner written on the verso, it was most probably painted on the island of St. Thomas, in the Caribbean, and not in Nice, on the Côte d'Azur, as suggested in the inscription. 200 Bradford Street was Miller's Provincetown address and it is entirely conceivable that an unfinished painting was found in the artist's old studio by its new owner a few years after Miller's death.
Several of the figures in this painting appear to be island women, in their colorful pastel dresses and head kerchiefs. The effort to convey a back-and-forth dynamic between the thin, sinewy tree trunks and the willowy female figures among them is one Miller had attempted several times before, notably while painting in California in 1916 and later in Provincetown. The semi-transparency of some figures in this painting, unfinished or not, lend it an engaging note of evanescence.
Marie Louise Kane is an art historian, and author of A Bright Oasis: The Paintings of Richard E. Miller.
Category: Fine Art / American Paintings
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