Edgar Miller (artist)
| Edgar Miller | |
|---|---|
| Born |
James Edgar Miller December 17, 1899 Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA |
| Died | June 1, 1993 (aged 93) Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Education | Art Institute of Chicago |
Edgar Miller (b. James Edgar Miller 1899 Idaho Falls, ID d. 1993 Chicago, IL) was an American designer, painter, craftsman, master woodcarver and one of the nation’s foremost stained-glass designers. He could sculpt and draw, and he was considered a pioneer in the use of graphic art in advertising. In the 1920s, he was called “the blond boy Michelangelo”; in the '30s, “a new luminary” by Architecture Magazine; in the '40s, "one of the most versatile artists in America.” By the 1950s, he was the go-to guy for the nation’s most successful industrial designers.
Miller’s father, James Edgar Miller, was born in 1857 in Michigan’s lumber country. He was related to Joaquin Miller (1837-1913), the well-known essayist, poet and Pony Express rider. He moved to what is now Idaho Falls, Idaho (used to be called Eagle Creek) in 1878 to open a small jewelry store after he became interested in watchmaking and engraving. Later on in his life he studied optometry and eventually became a beekeeper. His mother, Hester Elizabeth Gibson Martin, was born in 1864 in Missouri. She was a school teacher who taught the Choctaw Indians/People/Native Americans in the Oklahoma Territory; she eventually moved to Idaho to search for work with her brothers and sisters. One of Edgar’s fond memories of her is when Hester took her kids alone to visit the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, the World’s Fair of 1909. Hester and James married in 1895 in Idaho Falls; they had five children: Lucille in 1897, (James) Edgar in 1899, Frank in 1900, Hester in 1903 and Fauntleroy in 1906 (known as Buddy or Eugene).
Edgar Miller loved the Great American West. Idaho Falls, a western frontier town of little more than one thousand people, served as a central inspiration for many of Edgar’s motifs and ideas in his art – history, science, and nature. He displayed a strong artistic talent and imagination very early on. Around the age of four, after he saw a painting of Custer’s last stand at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, he decided to fully pursue art: “I could imagine no other existence but to be an artist.” Also, his cousin, Ladd Wright, whom he adored, was a famous rodeo star; later on Edgar named his own son Ladd. When Miller was seven, his father gave him a bay pony. Horses, and animals in general, are prominent and frequently presented in Edgar’s art and designs: “The affection for her became a definite part of me.” In a much later interview, Miller said, "Animals are representations of life and vitality.” At 9 years old he created complete illustrations of his favorite poems, Tennyson’s “Lady of Shalott” and Longfellow’s “Skeleton in Armor.” Couple years later he became an apprentice at an architectural company as a watercolorist: “My greatest enthusiasm as a boy was for the wildflower.” Jo He (real name Orzo French Eastman 1828-1916) lived at the edge of Idaho Falls around the turn of the Century. He was a bearded patriarch “who looked very much like Walt Whitman in his old age.” Miller wrote often about his visits to see Jo He. The older man taught Edgar about art and also showed him a home which he built and designed – “he carved stone, built his own home, was a tanner, taxidermist, imaginative gardener, inventor, mural painter, saddle-maker and sheet metal worker.” Miller was enthralled with this “handmade home”, and with the two-story workroom within, built above his living quarters. Here, Jo He executed taxidermy, worked on saddles, braided whips and rope et al. Edgar recalled that Jo He told him “’If you want to do anything, go ahead and do it’, all I had to do was try.” In 1913 Edgar, with his father and brother Frank, moved to Australia to help James run his apiary. It was a happy and adventurous time which brought him to a deeper understanding of nature, and the essence of existence. They took the S.S. Tahiti, a twin-screw freighter, for a 28-day voyage across the Pacific. After 12 days they reached Papeete, capital of Tahiti (which was then French Polynesia). Then to New Zealand, Sydney Australia, Melbourne and eventually Maldon. Life raising bees in Australia became difficult after a year or two, and they made their way back to Idaho a few months later.
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