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James Miller
Born	(1893-10-25)25 October 1893 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	4 March 1987(1987-03-04) (aged 93) Dunvegan, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Alma mater	Glasgow School of Art
Known for	Oils and watercolours

James Miller (25 October 1893 – 4 March 1987) was a Scottish painter, born in Dennistoun, Glasgow.

Life

James Miller was born in 203 Duke Street, Dennistoun, Glasgow, right opposite to the cattle market, in October 1893. His parents were William Miller (born c. 1852) and Margaret Palmer (born c. 1858). They had married on 27 December 1883. William was a warehouseman in a drapery from Glasgow, Margaret was from Greenock, Their other children were:- William Miller [Jnr.] (born 1884), Agnes Martin Palmer Miller (born 1892), and John Miller (born c. 1896).

At the age of 14 Miller took art classes in the Glasgow School of Art. The classes were meant for Primary School teachers, so they could pass on rudimentary techniques to the children, but the art school let Miller attend. Miller explained: 'I was a boy among a crowd of women, a kind of pet, but I was the best drawer!'.

His father did not want Miller to pursue an art career. Instead, he lined up a job for him at a solicitor's office.

Eventually though his father relented. Although he could not afford the fees, he managed to get a bursary from the Buchanan Bequest of the Incorporation of Coopers. His father was a member of the incorporation. That paid Miller's fees to the Glasgow School of Art and he signed up to the school, even though Miller still had no money to live on.

James Miller and Mary Alice McNeill married in the summer of 1931 in the Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel in Cardonald. At this point James was a schoolteacher staying in Paislry Road West in Glasgow..

Art

Miller recalled the Glasgow School of Art when he attended there: 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a big burly man with an Inverness cloak. Glasgow School of Art was famous throughout the world. It was considered one of the best schools in Europe. We had teachers like Maurice Greiffenhagen, Robert Anning Bell, a Belgian called Georges Baltus and a Frenchman called Paul Artôt [sic, Artôt was also Belgian] - internationally known figures brought by the principal Francis Newbury.'

He claimed he won the Guthrie Award, with an oil painting of his father, in 1925, however it was later withdrawn from him. He was found to be two years too old to qualify as a 'young artist' under its requirements (under 35). However there is no evidence of this. The Guthrie Award that year instead went to Laelia Armine Cockburn for her picture A Rough Lot for Sale.

Miller recalls being told by a Glasgow Art dealer: 'Jimmy, why can't you paint landscapes? We canny sell hooses.'

Death

He died on 4 March 1987, at his cottage home Tignabruaich, in Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye.

A public auction for his household furnishings and personal effects was held at Dunvegan Community Hall on the Isle of Skye on 27 June 1987.

Cliff Hanley wrote a tribute to Miller in the Glasgow Herald. Miller was one of his teachers at Eastbank Academy in Shettleston, Glasgow, and in later life the two became friends. The pupils called Miller 'Sammy Miller', and his wife who was also a teacher at the same school, they called 'Porky McNeill' despite her being very slender.

Sammy's regular gambit, on glancing at our work, was to pick up the art pad and yell 'Is that what you see, boy? Answer me: yes, no, or I don't know.' Maybe I gained his respect by answering 'Yes, No or I Don't Know'. He exploded. In laughter. We found each other about 10 years ago and corresponded regularly. Nearly blind even then he never stopped painting and exhibiting, and radiating his own magic.

References

Category:1893 births
Category:1987 deaths
Category:People from Dennistoun
Category:Scottish male painters
Category:Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art