Gerhard CF Miller Wing

A special wing devoted to the accomplished works of Mr. Miller's art, known as imaginary realism, houses many of the extraordinary works he completed in his lifetime. He excelled in drawing, watercolor and egg tempera. His passing in August, 2003, at 100 years of age, leaves us intensely committed to preserving the public legacy of the Museum.

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Gerhard Carl Friedrich Miller

1903-2003

Gerhard Miller was born in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 1903. His interest in painting began at the age of twelve after he contracted polio; a condition he largely overcame through surgery, exercise, and therapy. He studied art independently by constantly painting, studying art books, and visiting museums. Occasionally he was tutored and critiqued by artist, Roy Mason of Batavia New York. After studying business administration at the University of Wisconsin, he entered the family retail clothing business in Sturgeon Bay. Despite business demands and pressures, Gerhard’s interest in painting continued to grow.

Miller’s first color medium was oil, but in 1938 he felt his ability had progressed to the point he could take on the more challenging watercolor medium. By 1958, interest in his work had grown to such a level he opened a gallery at his home. A fellowship in 1965 at the Huntington-Hartford Foundation in Pacific Palisades, California, provided Miller the opportunity to begin experimenting with the egg tempera medium. Ever since, egg tempera has been the medium of choice for his large paintings, though he continued work in drawing and watercolor for smaller works. His art celebrates the current and past beauty of his beloved Door County, the major theme of his imaginative realism.

Since the late 1940’s, his travels to foreign lands (44 in total) provided him with a new and rich variety of subject matter and inspiration. Some of his travels included trips to Central America, Africa, India and Europe, where he did extensive study and large body of work of castles.

In 1944, Miller published a book of his poetry, Residue (out of print). He also lectured on art to various groups in Wisconsin. Because the community offered little art education for local residents, he taught evening classes at the Sturgeon Bay branch of the DC Libraries, The Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay, and summer classes in Ephraim and Fish Creek for the Peninsula Arts Association. He also served as a juror for many competitive art exhibits in the Midwest.

Miller was a regular exhibitor and recipient of awards in national watercolor exhibits since the early 1950’s: Certificate of Merit from the Whitney and Museum of Modern Art, New York (1962). He was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Humanities by the Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the prestigious American Watercolor Society, Audubon Society (since 1949), the Wisconsin Watercolor Society, and Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors.

In 1975, along with his wife, Ruth, he founded the Miller Art Center in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, (now the Miller Art Museum) where over 100 of his works are housed and exhibited on a rotating basis. Ruth Miller published a loving biography of Miller in 1987 and they co-authored two more: The Other Side of the Door and The Thrill of Castle Hunting. In the last several years of his life, Gerhard published several small paperbacks: Spiritual Guide to the Scientific 21st Century, Levels-Physical, Mental and Spiritual, Philosophical Truisms, Highlights of the Holy Land, God is in Control, and Highlights of the Travels of an Artist and His Wife.

Permanent Collection

The Miller Art Museum collects the work of exceptional Wisconsin artists from early 20th century to the present in painting, drawing, printmaking, and photography, and exhibits these works on a rotating basis on the Ruth Morton Miller mezzanine. The permanent collection consists of 617 pieces that represent 198 artists.

A

Addison, Robert William
Altman, Harold (1924-2003)
Anderson, Daniel B. (1941- ) Collection Piece
Anderson, Jack (1933- )
Anderson, Wayne (1951- )
Apfelbach Meyers, Alice Hotz (1899-1983)
Arneson, Wendell H. (1946- )
Armato, Millie
Arseth, Sigmund (1936- )
Austin, Bridget
Austin, Phil (1910-2004) Collection Piece

B

Backhaus, Kenn
Balsley, John (1944- )
Bamberger, Thomas (1948- )
Beaudoin, Isabel Collection Piece
Bechtold, Rodger
Becker-Wathall, Bettie (1918-1997)
Beckett, Caroline
Behncke, Nile Jurgen (1892-1954)
Bentley, Lester (1908-1972) Collection Piece
Bernhardt, Gerald
Berman, Fred (1926- )
Berns, Pam (1947- )
Blietz, Craig (1956- ) Collection Piece
Bohrod, Aaron (1907-1992)
Bosman, Mary (1954- )
Boynton, Winifred (1887-1974)
Brehmer, Bethia (1942- )
Briesemeister, Ray
Brophy, William R.
Brown Bag Poets
Brown, Donna
Buchholz, J. William (1909-1973)
Burkert, Robert (1930- )
Burton, Fran
Byrd, Gibson (1923-2002)

C

Champeau, Joan
Chase, Jesse Kalmbach (1879-1969)
Christiansen, W. Joseph
Claggett, Blanche (1916-1978)
Claxton, Wayne L.
Claussen, James (1953- )
Coaty, Martha Collection Piece
Colescott, Warrington (1921- ) Collection Piece
Colt, John N. (1925-1999)
Cook, Joe Collection Piece
Cornell, Lorna Bell
Crane, Jean
Currie, David Garfield
Czechowski, Alicia (1945- )

D

Darch, Shirley (1950- )
Das, Ratindra (1941 - )
Dawe, Richard (1921-1998)
Dawson, Montague (1895-1973)
Didier, Les Collection Piece
Di Cicco, Gil (1943- )
Dickinson, Franne
Dietrich, Margaret Rappe (1912-2000)
Dietrich, Thomas (1912-1998)
Dix, Charles (1939- )
Driesbach, David (1922- )

E

Eckmair, Frank C.
Ekman, Malin (Marlene) Collection Piece
Erickson, Phoebe
Evenson, George

F

Farrell, Patrick (ca. 1945- )
Faust, Marlene
Fellows, Boyd
Fenendael, Ed
Fernekes, Max (1905-1984)
Finger, Otto R.
Frankenstein, Curt (1922- )
Fraser, Austin Collection Piece
Friebert, Joseph (1908-200?)

G

Gavin, Verona E.
Gerber, Glenn
Gilchrist, Lynn (1950- )
Gloeckler, Raymond L. (1928- ) Collection Piece
Godfrey, Winifred
Gresko, Carol (1942- )
Groom, Emily (1876-1975)
Grotenrath, Ruth (1912-1988) Collection Piece

H

Hamilton, Mary
Hampel, Jack R. (1883-1978)
Hardy, Francis H. (1885-1960)
Hargreaves, Jeffrey
Hartmann, Bonnie Oehlert (1949- )
Hedrich, Ken
Hejinian, Lyn
Heuel II, Robert (1919-2009)
Hillebrand, Richard (1892-1989)
Hodgell, Robert (1922-2000)
Hotz, Ferdinand
Hunkel, Cary (1945- )
Hunt-Wulkowicz, Susan Collection Piece

I

Ingwersen, James Jay Collection Pieces

J

Jackel, Bill (1949- )
Jacobs, William R.
Jauquet, William
Johansen, Robert (1923-1991)
Johns, Emmett (1940- )
Johnson, Wilbur (1913-1991)
Jones, Win
Josephs, Timothy
Judy, Mike

K

Kittleson, Earl
Kolstad, Willard H. (1960- )
Krafft, Elton (1914-2001)

L

Lane, Stacia
Langlois, Flora Collection Piece
Lauder, Richard
Leaf, Ruth (1923- )
Lee, Doris (1905- )
Leibold, Robert C. (1926- )
Lichtner, Schomer (1905- ) Collection Piece
Lorenz, Richard (1858-1915)
Lott, Linda
Lukes, Roy
Lyons, R. Charles (1940-2007)

M

Maher III J. Thomas (1940- )
Mason, Roy M. (1887-1972)
Mayo, Gretchen
McCullin, H. Mac (1931- )
McNamara, Evelyn
Mecikalski, Eugene
Meeker, Dean (1920- )
Mengert, Carl (1925- )
Miller, Gerhard CF (1903-2003) Collection Pieces
Miller, Philip (1898-1977)
Miotke, Anne (1943- ) Collection Piece
Monske, Steven Jay (1950- )
Mothes, Lee Collection Piece
Mueller, Richard Collection Piece
Mueller, William
Muzik, Jack (1927-2000)
Myrah, Dagny Quisling

N

Nedobeck, Don (1935- )
Newcomb, Nancy

O

Otis, Ann

P

Paesel, Audrey
Parris, David
Pechman, Frank J. (1911-2004)
Pen, Rudolph Theodore (1918- )
Pescheret, Leon (1892-1971
Peterson, Enid
Peterson, Charles L. (1927- ) Collection Pieces
Philipon, Ruth Wedgewood
Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973)
Pihos, Barbara S.
Place, Sandra
Poehlmann, Joanna
Poole, Frederick Victor (1865-1936)
Pribble, William (1926- )
Priebe, Karl (1914-1976)
Purinton, Harry (1912-1989)

Q

Quartetti, Leonard Collection Piece
Quinlan, Albert Frank

R

Range, James
Rashid, Bob (1949- )
Riddet, Michael James (1947 - ) Collection Piece
Robinson, Kit
Rogers, Matilda (1915-1991)
Rose, Suzanne Collection Piece
Rotier, Peter (1888-1964)
Rotzoll, Harold J.
Roussef, Vladimir (1890-1988)

S

Sayers, John A. Collection Piece
Schneider, Kenneth D.
Schook, F. De Forrest (1872-1942)
Schwartz, Lester (1912- )
Scofield, Stanley
Seagard, Tom
Servoss, Allan
Sessler, Alfred (1909-1963)
Sheets, Millard (1907-1989)
Shillinglaw, Fawn (1944- )
Somers, Frederick
Spalatin, Marko (1943- )
Spicuzza, Francesco (1883-1962)
Steinmetz, Peter
Sterba, Antonin (1875-1963)
Stonehouse, Fred (1960- )
Summ, Helmut (1908-1992)
Szakala, László A.

T

Thomas, Pat(Patricia) (1918-1984) Collection Piece
Thrall, Arthur (1926- )
Timm, Hermke
Topelmann, Karsten (1929- )

U

Ulbricht, Elsa (1885-1980)
Uttech, Tom
Utzinger, Rosemary

V

Vandenack, Toby (1958- )
Verburgt, Carl (1906-1981)
Von Neumann, Robert (1888-1976) Collection Pieces
Vreeland, Ken (1924-2001)

W

Wagner, Ferd (1894-1981)
Wathall, Lionel (1914- )
Weborg, Vida Pauline (1864-1951)
Weiss, Lee (1928- )
Whitaker, Frederick (1891-1980)
White, Doris (1924-1995)
Wilde, John (1919- 2006) Collection Piece
Wilde, Jonathan (1948- )
Wolst, Archelle "Buttons"

Y

Young, C. Jac (1880-1940)

Z

Zalucha, Peggy Flora Collection Piece
Zingale, Santos
Zwehl-Burke, Pamela

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