Jack Millar; painter
Hyfler/Rosner
Esteemed painter and teacher
The Independent
04 December 2006
David Buckman
It is not surprising that through his long life as a painter
Jack Millar gained many prizes and was highly esteemed by
his peers. From 1948 he was a regular exhibitor at the Royal
Academy Summer Exhibition. Over the years he also
contributed to several dozen other mixed shows in commercial
and public galleries, as well as having a string of solo
exhibitions.
The last of those, at Duncan Campbell Fine Art in 2003,
indicated that Millar, then in his early eighties, was an
artist still capable of producing his favourite interiors,
as well as landscapes, soaked in sunlight and rich colour.
The French artist Pierre Bonnard was the painter he
especially admired, but a comparison with the Scottish
Colourists would not have been out of place.
Of that show, the Royal Academician Ken Howard wrote:
Revelation is the key to all painting. Showing us a way to
see. In Jack's case this is not shocking or confrontational,
it is quiet and convincing and it adds to our perception of
the world.
Jack Millar was born in London in 1921. His father was
Ernest Woodroffe de Cauze Millar, a scenic artist who, prior
to his early death, worked at the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden. Jack and his two brothers were the product of
Ernest's second marriage. Whereas the brothers stayed at
home, Jack was reckoned by his father to be a burden and he
was fostered. Those early years remained a bitter memory,
although as a young man Jack chummed up with his father
again and remained an admirer of what he had achieved.
Before the Second World War Millar became a student at
Clapham Art School. After the war began and the school's
evacuation, Millar disliked its new Midlands location and
decided to return to London. He enrolled at St Martin's
School of Art until he joined the Royal Artillery.
It was characteristic of Millar's easy-going approach to
life that one Christmas he had to forfeit his sergeant's
stripes when gunners in his charge were found drunk on duty.
Millar was next posted to India, where he contracted
tuberculosis, which necessitated a transfer to South Africa
for recuperation. When his health deteriorated to the point
where it was feared he would not last long, he was sent home
to England, but curiously by the time of his return he was
found to be cured.
After the war Millar continued his studies at the Royal
College of Art, where he was taught by Rodrigo Moynihan,
John Minton and Carel Weight. Millar was awarded first class
honours at the Royal College and the Andrew Lloyd
Scholarship for landscape painting in 1950.
Carel Weight remained a great help and influence. After a
failed first marriage, Millar in 1969 married the painter
Pamela Izzard. Weight's present to the happy couple was his
own drolly titled The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
Like many artists, the Millars had to teach as well as
paint, one compensation being the interaction with fellow
teachers and students. Many students benefited from Millar's
guidance as a visiting lecturer at the Royal Academy Schools
from 1964 to 1992, also as head of fine art at Walthamstow
School of Art, 1966-73, and Kingston Polytechnic, 1973-86.
Millar was elected a member of the Royal Society of British
Artists in 1954 and of the New English Art Club in 2001. He
also showed with the London Group and out of London with the
Royal West of England Academy and Royal Glasgow Institute of
the Fine Arts.
David Buckman
Jack Millar was a dedicated artist with encyclopaedic
knowledge, huge energy and insight into the creative
process, writes Fred Cuming. With a wicked and anarchic
sense of humour, he delighted in and was capable of
deflating pompous attitudes in others and occasionally, if
necessary, himself. He was a great raconteur, and his tales
of army life and experiences in the arts were Kiplingesque
with a dash of Damon Runyon or Thurber.
As a teacher, he was approachable, widely read and
articulate; he made easy contact with students, being able
to understand their thoughts and aspirations. Teaching is a
two- way process in the arts and he was as excited and
involved in their ideas as he was in transmitting his
thoughts and ideas to them. He was infinitely patient but
firm in criticism: his insistence on learning the basics
never faltered.
To draw, he thought, brought understanding - he was
fascinated by the making of art works, film, music, theatre
and the parallels between these activities and disciplines.
In his own work his approach was deceptively simple: his
home life, interiors, the structure and play of light, the
changing seasons of Dulwich and London were all depicted
with love and perception, his frequent trips abroad always
producing a bonus of works.
Jack Ernest Millar, painter and teacher: born London 28
November 1921; married 1945 Pauline Sawyer (one son, two
daughters; marriage dissolved 1964), 1969 Pamela Lucas (née
Izzard; two stepsons, and one stepdaughter deceased); died
London 2 November 2006.