Brittain, Miller

  • Wiki Biography:
    • Miller Gore Brittain (November 12, 1912 – January 21, 1968) was a Canadian artist from Saint John, New Brunswick. He was largely known for creating paintings and drawings encapsulating social realism.
    • Miller Gore Brittain was born on November 12, 1912, in Saint John, New Brunswick, to parents James Firth Brittain and Margaret Bartlett Lord. He was educated at the Saint John Vocational School (now Harbour View High School), where he took art classes. During his childhood, he was also a student at the Saint John Art Club, where he studied art with Elizabeth Russell Holt. He also studied art under Harry Wickey in New York City. In 1932, after living in New York, he returned to Saint John, where he worked at clerical and construction jobs and opened an art studio on the waterfront. During this period, he captured realistic scenes of everyday life in the city which incorporated social commentary. During the 1930s, he joined the Oxford Group, a Christian organization
    • Brittain is considered one of Canada’s most prolific painters. His work broke from the style current at the time of the Group of Seven when landscapes dominated Canada’s art scene. Brittain focused on working class life in his hometown of Saint John with his signature style of social realism. He was a founding member of the Federation of Canadian Artists in 1941.
    • In the early 1940s, Brittain joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and was posted to the 78th Squadron of the R.A.F. Bomber Command, as a bomb-aimer. He was commissioned in November 1944 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1945, he was appointed an Official Second World War artist. One of his works, Night Target, Germany (1946), depicts a bombing raid over Germany.
    • After the war, his paintings took on a more surreal aspect, taking as their subject biblical topics, abstract figures, nudes and flowers. In 1947, Brittain won a prize from the Canadian Society of Graphic Art and the next year he held two one-person shows at St. John in the New Brunswick Museum and in Dayton, Ohio, at the Dayton Museum.
  • Third Great grandson to United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=874
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/240403370/miller-gore-brittain