Maria Morris Miller

Maria Morris Miller (1813–1875) was a Canadian artist from Halifax, Nova Scotia who is known for her botanical paintings and illustrations. She presented her work to Queen Victoria and received royal patronage for life.[1] She is also the first professional woman artist in Nova Scotia, recognized in her field during her active career years.[2] She worked with scientists and government officials, garnering her accolades as the "Audubon of Nova Scotian field flowers".[3]

Maria Morris Miller
BornFebruary 12, 1813
Halifax, Nova Scotia
DiedOctober 29, 1875
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Nationality Canadian
OccupationArtist
Known forBotanical lithographs
Spouse(s)Garrett Miller
Parent(s)Guy and Sybilla Morris

Career

Born into a middle class family, Miller's mother Sybilla encouraged her to learn about art.[4] Miller studied her craft in Halifax under the tutelage of a visiting British painter named L'Estrange. She also studied with W.H. Jones, a Bostonian who taught at Dalhousie College.[5] In 1830, she began offering drawing classes to female students which gave her some financial independence.[6][7] The North British Society of Halifax honoured her with the title of "Painter of the Year" in 1836.[8]

Soon after, Nova Scotia's Secretary of Agriculture and botanist, Titus Smith, asked Miller to paint a series of canvasses depicting local wildflowers. He brought her specimens which she quickly had to immortalize, before the plants deteriorated.[3] During the mid 1830s, aided by Smith's scientific input, Miller produced a large number of water colour drawings which later ended up in an important Halifax art exhibition in 1848.[8]

Smith provided botanical descriptions for Miller's first catalog of coloured lithographs entitled Wild Flowers of Nova Scotia.[9][10][11] It was issued in 1840 by a London bookseller and local publisher, with the financial support of the province's lieutenant-governor Sir Colin Campbell. Two other sets of lithographs followed in 1853 and 1866. The second publication was also issued as Wild Flowers of Nova Scotia. The third catalog was entitled Wild Flowers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and was annotated by George Lawson, a botanist who founded the Botanical Society of Canada.[8][12] In 1867, the first series was reissued with a new title, Wild Flowers of British North America. With her four catalogs, Miller was able to document 22 native plants, at a time when there was an increasing interest in natural history.[13][8]

In 1862, Miller participated in an International Exhibition in London, England. Although her drawings arrived too late to be part of the competition, she received positive reviews in the English press.[14] In 1867, a copy of her botanical paintings were exhibited at the Paris Exposition.

Miller's works are part of the permanent collection at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Atlantic Canada's largest art museum.[15] Other paintings and lithographs are owned by The Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, also located in Halifax. Ottawa's National Gallery of Canada has some of her lithographs as well, belonging to the 1840 and 1853 series.[16]

Also a writer, Miller published a volume of poetry, Metrical Musings, with her sister Catherine in 1856.[17]

Personal life

Most records indicate that Maria Morris Miller was born in 1813 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Captain Guy Morris and Sibylla Amelia Maria Sophia Leggett. Her father, who was a descendant of Charles Morris, died when Maria was a small child. (She may have also been born in 1810 in Country Harbour, Nova Scotia with her mother moving the family to Halifax after her father's death in 1813.) In 1840, Maria Morris Miller married Garret Trafalgar Nelson Miller, the son of Garrett Miller and Catherine Pernette, who was the daughter of Joseph Pernette. Maria Morris Miller and her husband had five children.[18][7] She passed away in Halifax in 1875.

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References
  1. "Women of Canada : their life and work / compiled by the National Council of Women of Canada at the request of the Hon. Sydney Fisher for distribution at the Paris International Exhibition, 1900". s.n. – via Internet Archive.
  2. "Maria Morris Miller". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-31.
  3. http://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/viewFile/4155/3399
  4. Social History. 30. University of Ottawa Press. 1997. p. 11.
  5. Farr, Dorothy; Luckyj, Natalie (1975). "From Women's Eyes: Women Painters in Canada : Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, 12 Dec. 1975 to 1 Feb. 1976". Agnes Etherington Art Centre.
  6. Huneault, Kristina; Anderson, Janice (2012-04-11). Rethinking Professionalism: Women and Art in Canada, 1850–1970. ISBN 978-0-7735-8683-3.
  7. Duffy, Ann; Mandell, Nancy (2000). Canadian families: Diversity, conflict and change. ISBN 978-0-7747-3629-9.
  8. "Maria Morris Miller | Art Gallery of Nova Scotia". artgalleryofnovascotia.ca.
  9. Miller, Maria E. (1840). Wild Flowers of Nova Scotia. C.H. Belcher. Maria Morris Miller.
  10. Bowman Tucker, W. (1908). The Camden Colony ; Or, the Seed of the Righteous: A Story of the United Empire Loyalists : With Genealogical Tables. J. Lovell & Son. Maria Morris Miller.
  11. "Biography – MORRIS, MARIA FRANCES ANN – Volume X (1871–1880) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography". www.biographi.ca.
  12. "Maria Morris Miller – Google Search". www.google.ca.
  13. Conrad, Margaret; Hiller, James (2001). Atlantic Canada: A Region in the Making. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-541044-0. Maria Morris Miller.
  14. "Canadian Women Artists History Initiative : Artist Database : Artists : MILLER, Maria Frances Ann (Morris)". cwahi.concordia.ca.
  15. "Permanent Collection | Art Gallery of Nova Scotia". artgalleryofnovascotia.ca.
  16. "Maria Morris Miller". www.gallery.ca.
  17. Morris, Maria (September 12, 1856). Metrical Musings. R. Craighead, Printer – via Internet Archive. Metrical musings morris.
  18. "Morris, Maria Frances Ann (Miller)". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
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