Miller, Lilian (1895 - 1943), "Autumn Evening, Korea"

Notes: This design offers perhaps an even more compelling visual surface as the checkerboard pattern of the barren paddy field, set off by blue lines representing tall grasses, established geometric motifs countered by the gentle swell of the hills with ghostly groves of trees silhouetted against the background design of dramatically contoured mountains. The stubble of the field gives way to the soft grey of the hills and trees, then dissolves into the glassy smoothness of the distant peaks. Within this play of glowing natural forms, a band of farmers trudges home - a note of transient humanity underscoring the eternity of nature. Despite the abstraction of Miller's vision, any rendering of Oriental life is easily read in narrative terms - as indicated by Joan Grigsby's poem of the image:

Wan are the rice fields in the dusk tonight.
Far off I hear the cranes' regretful cry
And watch their wings outspread against the light
That fades while day grows shadowy in the night
On glimmering fields beneath the pallid sky.

Provenance: Acquired directly from a descendant of the L.M. Miller family. This was accompanied with the entire family collection of remaining works; including original paintings, pencil sketches and one of a kind proofs.