Melissa Miller
Flood

Flood

© Melissa W. Miller

Flood
Flood
ArtistAmerican, born 1951
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Flood
Date1983
PlaceAustin, Texas, United States
MediumOil on linen
Dimensions59 × 95 in. (149.9 × 241.3 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Duke Energy
Object number83.254
Non exposé

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Object Type
Description

Melissa Miller brings a realist's eye to her vividly imagined landscapes. A native of Houston, Miller grounds her work in her experience of the local landscape, and in particular the rocky countryside of central Texas. In 1984 she remarked: "I live in a hilly part of Texas full of scrubby trees, animals, water, and sky. Each day I observe dramas, contradictions, compromises, tensions, and endearments." Miller developed a series of richly allegorical paintings, essentially paradigms for the human condition, images that encompass themes of playful courtship to mortal struggle. By the late 1970s, animals became the chief protagonists in these allegories.


 Tightly cropped, Flood focuses on the plight of three animals whose reactions to the rising waters chart a range of emotion, from the raging tiger to the crane who seems to arch its neck in despair. The one active figure in the composition is that of the crouching tiger, who tentatively tests a passing branch as a saving foothold.


ProvenanceThe artist; [Texas Gallery, Houston]; purchased by MFAH, 1983.
Exhibition History"New American Painting, A Tribute to James and Mari Michener," Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, The University of Texas at Austin, January 12–March 5, 1984. (LN:84.14).

"Four Texas Painters," University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Architecture, Art, and Urban Planning, May 2–May 26, 1984 (LN:84.19)

"Melissa Miller: A Survey 1978 – 1986," Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, July 11–August 24, 1986; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, September 12–November 2, 1986; Fort Worth Art Museum, November 23, 1986–January 4, 1987 (LN:86.35)

"Animals," Art Gallery - Visual Arts Center, California State University, Fullerton, September 5–October 4, 1987. (LN:87.31).

"Direction and Diversity: Twentieth Century Art in the Museum Collection,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 21–September 3, 1988.

"Looking South: A Different Dixie," Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, October 14, 1988–January 7, 1989; Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Tennessee, March 4–April 16, 1989; Sheldon Swope Art Gallery, Terre Haute, May 7–July 2, 1989; St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, Florida, August 6–October 1, 1989; The Columbus Museum, Georgia, November 15, 1989–January 30, 1990. (LN:88.26).

“Crossing State Lines: Texas Art from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 23, 2000–March 18, 2001.


Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Decision
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