Nachume Miller was an Israeli artist who immigrated to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1973, where he made a name for himself in the American Modern Art scene. Miller's parents were both Holocaust survivors. His father was a captain in the front lines of the Russian Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and his mother was a Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n who had once been held captive in a concentration camp. Both escaped the Nazis, re-united and fled to Israel. Nachume was born during their voyage, in Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, Germany, on January 28, 1949. He grew up in the town of Holon, Israel, where he was inspired by his father who spent most of his post-war days carving elaborate wood sculptures of Cubist human forms. Nachume, on the contrary, excelled in painting

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

.

By the age of 16, Miller was painting elaborate surreal

Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

 dream lands referencing religion, politics and the history of Modern Art. His earlier works show similarities to Hieronymus Bosch, Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí

Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....

 and Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...

. Miller was enlisted in the Israeli Army where he worked as one of Ariel Sharon

Ariel Sharon

Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....

's personal assistants and also fought in the 1973 Yom Kippur War

Yom Kippur War

The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...

. He went to New York in 1966 to study at the School of Visual Arts

School of Visual Arts

The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...

, and joined the faculty in 1977 to teach painting and drawing.

Exhibitions

Selected One-Person Exhibitions

• 1976: "Drawing Show", Bertha Urdang Gallery, New York
• 1981: "Figures", A&M Artwork, New York
• 1988: Exit Art, New York; "Projects: Nachume Miller", Museum of Modern Art, New York
• 1989: E.M. Donahue Gallery, New York
• 1990: "Nachume Miller: Views", E.M. Donahue Gallery, New York
• 1993: "Sensual Painting", E.M. Donahue Gallery, New York
• 1994: The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 1968: "10+ For and Against", Tel Aviv
• 1970: "10+ In a Circle", Tel Aviv
• 1972: "Symbols and Imagination", Artists' Pavilion, Tel Aviv; "July '72", Gallery 220, Tel-Aviv
• 1975: "The Work of Nine Graduates of the School of Visual Arts", New York; 112 Greene Street Gallery, New York; "Group Indiscriminate", 112 Green Street Gallery, New York
• 1976: "8 Israeli Artists", Bertha Urdang Gallery, New York
• 1978: "Young American Artists", Exxon National Exhibition, Guggenheim Museum, New York
• 1979: "Three Artists", 22 Wooster Gallery, New York; "Group Show", Israel Museum, Jerusalem
• 1980: "Gallery Artists", A&M Artwork; New York; "Exaggeration", Edward Throp Gallery, New York
• 1981: The Drawing Center, New York
• 1982: Susan Caldwell Gallery, New York; "The Americans: The Collage", Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Texas; "Summer Show", Roger Litz Gallery, New York; "Four Painters", Roger Litz Gallery, New York; "Critical Perspective", P.S.1, New York; "New Drawings in America", The Drawing Center, New York
• 1983: "Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition (LACE)", New York - Los Angeles Exchange, Los Angeles; "Short Memory", Arta Stucio, Milan, Italy
• 1985: "Relative Meaning: The Figure in Context", Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York; Exit Art, New York
• 1986: Barbara Toll Gallery, New York; "Consensus", Exit Art, New York
• 1988: Tibor De Nagy Gallery, New York; "New Visions of the Apocalypse", Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island; "Drawing Show", Tomoko Ligouri Gallery, New York; "Summer Show", David Bietzel Gallery, New York
• 1989: "Landscape", Tibor De Nagy Gallery, New York; "Summer '89", E.M. Donahue Gallery, New York; The Butler Institute, Ohio; "The Dark Sublime", Scott Allan Gallery, New York; "The Spectacle of Chaos", KAOS Foundation Inc., Chicago
• 1991: "Summer Show", E.M. Donahue Gallery, New York; Jean Spedden Gallery, Carlston, S.C.; "Expressive Drawings", The New York Academy of Art, New York; "Working with Wax", Tibor De Nagy Gallery, New York
• 1992: "Vision of Culture and Nature", Bratlebovo Museum and Art Center, Vermont; "Color and Subject", The Artists Museum, New York; "Three Painters", Tibor De Nagy Gallery, New York
• 1993: "Drawing Show", E.M. Donahue Gallery, New York
• 1994: "Le Temps d'un dessin", Galerie de L'ecole Des Beaux de Lorient, France