ARTHUR MILLIER
1893 – 1975
Arthur Millier’s first career after arriving in the United States from England was as a commercial artist in Los Angeles. Research into his life around the First World War is conflicting. Some sources say he served in the Canadian Army and others in the American Army in France. It is clear that after the war ended he returned to California in 1919 and attended the California School for Fine Arts in San Francisco.
Millier’s involvement in art was multi-faceted. He was a talented etcher who had his first one man exhibition of etchings by 1922. His graphic work also included drypoints. His printmaking skills and sensitivity to subject matter earned him prizes from the California Society of Etchers in 1922 and 1928.
His initial subject matter was urban life and street scenes in San Francisco, but he soon shifted his interest to the varied California landscape. It is Millier’s landscapes for which he is most noted. His ability as a writer separated him from other printmakers and he began writing about art that was being exhibited in galleries and museums. He became the art critic for the Los Angeles Times in 1926 and wrote incisive art commentary and reviews for 35 years. His reputation as the Dean of American Art Critics was reinforced by being awarded the first Frank Jewett Mather Citation by the College Art Association for the Best Newspaper Art Criticism in a major United States newspaper.
Arthur Millier was a member of the Chicago Society of Etchers, The California Society of Etchers, and the California Art Club, all peer nominated societies.
His work is in the collections of many museums including: L.A. County Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Pamona College Museum of Art, Ruth Chandler Williams Gallery at Scripps College, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
“From The Owens Valley”
Etching
Image size: 6 5/8 x 7 7/8
Margin size: 8 ½ x 10 ¾