MILLER, Alfred Jacob (1857-1926) Rocky Formations near the Nebraska or Platte River

MILLER, Alfred Jacob (1857-1926)

Rocky Formations near the Nebraska or Platte River

Titled (upper right); inscribed (upper left)

Property from the Collection of Ambassador J. William Middendorf II, Rhode Island

Gouache, watercolor, pencil and ink on paper

7 ½ by 11 ⅞ in.

This scene, given its imprecise description as taking place near the Nebraska or Platte River, was likely created by memory years after his momentous journey west in 1837. Though Miller was known for taking direct inspiration from his travels, his depiction of the five Native Americans in this composition, galloping across the plain and dwarfed by the enormity of their surroundings, evidences the more Romantic lens through which he viewed the West, and particularly his view of native people’s connection with nature.

Indebted to the 18th-century English tradition of the picturesque landscape, Miller carefully arranges the composition around two mountainous landforms cast in contrasting light and shadow. Having had ample opportunity to observe Joseph Mallord William Turner’s work during the height of his popularity with midcentury American artists, Miller also took direct inspiration from the English landscape painter’s evocative depictions of the sublimity of nature’s spirit. Such influence is particularly evident in the present work with Miller’s atmospheric handling of the sky.

Margaret C. Conrads writes in the exhibition catalogue for Romancing the West: Alfred Jacob Miller in the Bank of America Collection (2010–2011): “Emphasizing the solidity of the formations and juxtaposing them against an open sky and a high mountain backdrop, Miller endowed the scene inspired by the landscape near Laramie with his initial wonder at their endurance beyond anything in human history” (Exh. Cat., Kansas City, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Philadelphia Museum of Art, Alfred Jacob Miller: Romancing the West in the Bank of America Collection, 2010–11, p. 124).

Provenance

• Eugenia Miller Whyte or Louisa Whyte Norton (acquired by descent from the artist)

• The Old Print Shop, New York (acquired from the above in 1947)

• The Boatman’s National Bank, St. Louis (acquired from the above in 1947)

• NationsBank, Charlotte (acquired from the above by corporate merger in 1996)

• Bank of America, Charlotte (acquired from the above by corporate merger in 1998)

• Sotheby’s, New York, 22 May 2013, lot 101 (consigned by the above)

• Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Exhibited

• St. Louis, The Boatman’s National Bank, 1964, no. 48

• Kansas City, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Philadelphia Museum of Art, Alfred Jacob Miller: Romancing the West in the Bank of America Collection, 2010–11, no. 25, pp. 124–125, illustrated in color