Miller Gore Brittain at Jones Auction House
We are currently seeking works by Miller Gore Brittain to be included in gallery or auction sales.
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ABOUT MILLER BRITTAIN
Miller Gore Brittain (Canadian, 1912-1968) was a significant Canadian painter and muralist of the early to mid-20th century. While trends elsewhere in Canada tended towards Group of Seven style landscape, Brittain was “one of the few Canadian artists creating social satire in the 1930s; his crowded scenes of everyday life reflect a sympathy for humanity and an ability to express character through gesture,” writes the National Gallery of Canada.
Brittain was born and raised in Saint John, New Brunswick. Following high school, he trained in New York City with Harry Wickey and was introduced to the work of Kenneth Hayes Miller, an American social realist and member of the Ashcan School, a group of artists interested in interpreting everyday scenes of city life and gritty urban landscapes.
Brittain returned to Saint John in 1932 and established a studio near the harbour. He became part of an active cultural circle in Saint John that included visual artists like Jack Humphrey and Ted Campbell. Brittain worked as an official war artist during World War II. After returning to Saint John in 1946, he had professional success with national and international exhibitions.
Brittain’s work in the 1930s responds to the influence of Hayes Miller and the Ashcan School. His subjects are often crowds of urban workers, participating in everyday life. His figures in this period are monumental, filling the frame. His later work in the 1950s and 1960s becomes more inward or psychological, dealing often with Biblical imagery and more abstract ideas about the human experience.
OUR BACKGROUND
Jones Auction House curator and art historian, Sarah Jones, conducted her graduate research on 20th-century Atlantic Canadian art, and routinely consults and lecture on the significance of Miller Brittain and his contemporaries.
Questions about Miller Brittain, or would you like to talk to us about consigning your Miller Brittain artwork? Speak directly with Sarah Jones, Jones Auction House curator.
Email: sarah@jonesgallery.ca
Phone: 506 672-2326
Upcoming:
Our upcoming Winter Collection auction includes a selection of work by Miller Brittain.
Winter Collection | Lot 139: Three Figures
oil on board, 29.5 x 23.5 in. (sight); 37.5 x 31.5 in. (frame)
Provenance: Estate of Jennifer Brittain, daughter of Miller Gore Brittain; Private Collection, New York, USA
SALE DATE (UPCOMING): 24 MARCH 2024
Estimate: $20,000-$28,000
A significant oil painting by Miller Gore Brittain (Canadian, 1912-1968), depicting three figures against a turquoise and orange background. The two nude female and male figures on the left are rendered in an elongated and abstract manner with bare features, their torsos blend and merge, each with only one leg that elastically bends from their merging forms before again meeting to create a blended foot. The centre male figure stretches his arm over a smaller figure on the right. This figure, while still lacking facial features, is more realistically rendered in a classical contrapposto pose, clothed, with one arm resting on his hip. The scene is roughly divided in two diagonal sections - the turquoise ground behind the female figure on the left, and the orange ground behind the male figures on the right.
Like Figures and Flowers, this painting is a good example of the thematic approach of Brittain's later work; this is a dream-like, surreal, and symbolic scene, one that asks deeply psychological questions about the human experience, identity, and relationships.
Winter Collection | Lot 138: Figures and Flowers
pastel on paper, 21 x 14 in. (paper sight); 29.5 x 22 in. (frame), 1963
Provenance: Estate of Jennifer Brittain, daughter of Miller Gore Brittain; Private Collection, New York, USA
SALE DATE (UPCOMING): 24 MARCH 2024
Estimate: $9,000-$12,000
A pastel drawing by important Saint John artist Miller Gore Brittain (Canadian, 1912-1968), depicting tall, elongated flowers among a yellow field and against a blue sky. An abstracted figural form hovers on the right, separated from the flowers on the left by a glowing orange and yellow sun. Brittain presents the organic forms - the human figure and the flowers - in bright colours of vivid purple, red, orange, blue, and yellow, in rounded shapes and with soft edges. These organic forms stretch and lean toward the upper margins of the composition, away from the more muted and block-like landscape below.
This pastel is a good example of the thematic iconography of Brittain's 1960s work - highly dream-like, surreal, and symbolic.
Winter Collection | Lot 218: Man with Sword
Winter Collection | Lot 219: Conglomerate
Works by Miller Brittain previously handled by our Auction House:
Canadian & International Art | Lot 164: Torso
graphite and pastel on paper, 13.25 x 9.25 in.; 23 x 17.5 in. (frame), 1961
Provenance: Private Collection, New Brunswick
SALE DATE: 03 DECEMBER 2023
Realized: $13,800
A pastel and graphite drawing depicting a nude female torso in the centre of the composition. The forms of other bodies in various positions frame the main figure. Bright colours applied in pastel swirl around the figures, quickly applied and in circular patterns, giving a sense of movement and rhythm.
Canadian & International Art | Lot 119: Crucifixion
ink wash and conte on paper, 19.25 x 13.5 in.; 32.25 x 24.25 in. (frame), 1947
Provenance: Private Collection, New Brunswick
Exhibited: "Miller G. Brittain: Drawings and Pastels 1930-1967," Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick, 1968; "Miller G. Brittain: In Memoriam," Saint Mary's University Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1978
SALE DATE: 03 DECEMBER 2023
Realized: $9,775
A large ink and conte depiction of the Crucifixion by Miller Gore Brittain. Christ figure appears on the cross in the centre of the composition, two standing figures are on the left, one on the right, and a kneeling figure appears in the centre at the base of the cross. Brittain roughly blocks in the scene in conte, and the ink wash strokes are rapidly applied, outlining the forms and providing detail.
This 1947 work is a compelling example of Brittain's immediate post-war work, showing the transition from the social realism paintings of the 1930s and early 1940s to his later work that focused more on abstract physiological ideas and Biblical imagery. Brittain, who in his early career had been known for depicting working class figures with empathy and monumentality, turns his attention in "Crucifixion" to one of the most recognizable and frequently-depicted scenes of Western culture. While the monumentality or weightedness of Brittain's early figural work is present especially in the standing figures on the left and right, the centre figures - Christ with slightly elongated limbs and the kneeling figure whose lower body disappears in a flurry of lines - exude extreme pathos and sadness, pointing to the subject and approach of his later period work.
This work was exhibited in two important Brittain retrospectives.
Canadian & International Art | Lot 120: Miller Brittain Studio Easel
72 (variable) x 26 x 33 in.
Provenance: Private Collection, New Brunswick
SALE DATE: 03 DECEMBER 2023
Realized: $6,900
Working easel of artist Miller Gore Brittain (Canadian, 1912-1968). Easel is well-used and is covered throughout with dried paint, paint drips, and pencil/graphite markings. Of special note is a small pencil or graphite drawing of a figure on the upper reverse of the easel (see detail image).
This easel offers a compelling glimpse at the physical ephemera of an artist's studio, giving us tangible insight into Brittain's approach and working methodology - paint was obviously applied quickly or urgently, and the easel itself served as a surface on which to capture ideas and notes.
Sell with us.
Contact us about placing your Miller Brittain artwork in an upcoming auction. Submit via our consignment form or contact our curator directly:
sarah@jonesgallery.ca; (506) 672-2326