1 of 4
2 of 4
3 of 4
4 of 4
Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio Inc. is excited to announce our 40th Anniversary celebration and upcoming exhibition of the estate of Peter Miller, a female American modernist. A selection of her works will also be featured at the 60th Annual Philadelphia Show, held April 28th to May 1st at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A preview and anniversary party for “Peter Miller – Forgotten Woman of American Modernism” will be held April 23rd from 5 to 9PM at the gallery’s home in Doylestown, Bucks County.
For 40 years, Gratz Gallery has taken great pride in supporting the arts and communities of New Hope, Bucks County, Philadelphia, and the Delaware Valley. We have worked with many wonderful organizations over the years, the James A. Michener Art Museum, The Princeton University Art Museum, Morven Museum & Garden, the Drumthwacket Foundation, Princeton University, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Mercer Museum, the Woodmere Art Museum, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The Pennsylvania Historical Society, the Travis Manion Foundation, AIDS Walk New Hope, the Salvation Army, to name a few.
This year we are honored to announce our commitment for a portion of our sales to be designated to the Philadelphia organization Philabundance, “seeking to drive hunger from our communities today and end hunger forever”.
Over the years, Gratz Gallery has promoted and featured many important female, American artists from the New Hope Circle, The Philadelphia Ten, and students from The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It has always been our belief that female artists more often do not receive the deserved recognition for their work and talent. It is with hope and confidence that we are finally seeing women artists from history and current times being reevaluated and honored for their contributions to the American art community, as this has been long overdue.
The discovery of the Peter Miller collection presented here, and her story, is one the most fascinating and important discoveries we have made over our 40 years representing American painters. It is our great pleasure and honor to present the estate of the artist Peter Miller.
Born Henrietta Myers in 1913, she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1933. To demonstrate her passion and determination, she wrote in her application that “she would rather fail at painting than succeed at anything else in life”. She adopted her childhood nickname, Peter, and became Peter Miller after marrying fellow academy student Earle Miller in 1935. Thinking she might be taken more seriously by fellow artists, collectors, and critics with a male sounding name, she was hoping to enhance her career in a world heavily dominated by men. Peter came from a very affluent family in Hanover, Pennsylvania and later settled at Rock Raymond Farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania. She designated the 350-acre farm and property to be donated to the Brandywine Conservancy after her death in 1996.
Peter Miller exhibited at the prestigious Julien Levy gallery in two one-woman shows in1944 and 1946. She studied under famed Pennsylvania Impressionist Daniel Garber, and privately with modernist Arthur Carles for ten years. Peter and Earle Miller split their personal time between Pennsylvania and their spiritual home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Peter was the goddaughter of mystic Edith Warner and San Ildefonso Pueblo Indian, Tilano Montoya, both were known for running “Teahouse at Otowi Bridge”, a small, self-sustaining destination for hungry travelers and sometimes even the families of nearby working scientists of the Manhattan project in Los Alamos.