A Life Shaped by Saint John
Miller Brittain began his relationship with art as a young boy in Saint John, New Brunswick. His first lessons came from Elizabeth Russell Holt when he was only eleven years old. By 1926, he was a student at the Saint John Vocational School, honing the skills that would eventually lead him to the Art Students League of New York. There, studying under Harry Wickey between 1930 and 1932, he encountered the heavy, grounded works of the American social realists and the Ash Can School. He also found inspiration in the masters like Rembrandt, Goya, and Hogarth.
When he returned to Saint John in 1932, life was not immediately defined by the studio. He spent time working in construction and various office roles before establishing his own space on the waterfront. This studio became a quiet hub for local artists. During the 1930s, his work focused on the people of his hometown during the Great Depression. His ability to capture crowded scenes of everyday life earned him the nickname "the Canadian Bruegel."
Service and Transformation
The Second World War brought a profound shift to his perspective. In 1942, Brittain joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, flying thirty-seven missions as an air bomber. While many might have focused on the violence of combat, his focus remained on the human element. He served as an official war artist for two years, but his canvases were filled with the faces of his fellow soldiers rather than the mechanics of battle. This period also saw him finding deep connections to the works of William Blake and Henry Moore.
After being discharged in 1946, he returned to Saint John with a new interest in biblical imagery and the human psyche. His work moved away from the gritty urban realism of his earlier years toward something more expressive and spiritual. He began to explore themes of the unconscious, using figures that felt both ancient and deeply personal. These later works often featured mysterious forms where humans, animals, and celestial bodies seemed to merge.
A Lasting Presence in Canadian Art
In his final years, following the death of his wife in 1958, Brittain became more reclusive. His art took on a surreal quality, featuring attenuated figures set within strange, powerful landscapes. He sought to find a way to reconcile the individual with the natural world through these compositions. Despite his withdrawal from social life, his professional contributions remained significant:
- He was a founding member of the Federation of Canadian Artists.
- He held memberships in the Canadian Society of Graphic Artists and the Contemporary Arts Society.
- His work is preserved in major institutions such as the National Gallery of Canada, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, and the Canadian War Museum.
Brittain passed away from a stroke at the age of fifty-six. In 1968, he was posthumously awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal for his contributions to the country's art. His life, captured in an award-winning film by the National Film Board in 1981, remains a story of a man who looked closely at the struggles and the divinity found within ordinary people.
