Blogs

By Fr. Johann Roten, S.M.

A native of Cincinnati, Benjamin Miller was far from being a victim of his roots and culture. Living in Boston (1897-1901) and working toward a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, he was exposed to what he called “my New England culture.“ He will try to lose it working for a very short time as an engineer in San Francisco (1901). Eventually, he will return to California. In a fruitless attempt to find healing for his wife Ella, the couple will spend two years in Long Beach (1916-1918). To escape the grief of losing his wife, Benjamin traveled to Europe, visiting England, Holland, Italy, and France – spending the entire year of 1919 in Paris amid memories of bombed cities and desolate battlefields. He returned to Paris in 1921 and became deeply involved with expressionist art. Miller, an avid traveler, spent part of 1922 and 1923 in Assisi. In 1929, at a time when his work received recognition not only at home, but in Europe, he traveled again to Paris. The years after the Great Depression were frequently spent traveling with a friend not only to Europe, but also to Cuba and Mexico.

Two prints, both churches, in our exhibit are reminiscent of Miller’s travels. The first is Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi (1927). The other is the Old Church of Taxco in Mexico (1927). The contrast between the two churches is memorable. Santa Maria Maggiore is broad, heavy, plunged partially in darkness. Colossal in an uninspiring way, the church looks with dark, blind eyes into the world. It is there to remain, so the message, but hardly here to attract people. The Taxco church, on the contrary, is full of southern charm. Although surrounded by an angry throng of clouds packed with rain, the mission church radiates joyful confidence, a serene and simple beauty. Was it Miller’s intentions to show two faces of the one Church: It’s sometimes forbidding permanence, but – most important – its never fading Light of peaceful hope and joy?

^{Santa Maria Maggiore}

^{Old Church of Taxco}

Architecture does not have an important place in Miller’s work. In the exhibit we have – aside from the two churches – a beautiful print featuring Mt. Adams, Cincinnati (1927) literally reaching into heaven and transfigured by the light from above. The woodcut is reminiscent of the iconographical motif of the City on the Mount. The City on the Mount is a symbol of life. It is the origin from which creation springs; it is here that life will find fulfillment. The seer of Patmos, in the Book of Revelation saw the Holy City, a New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God (Rev. 21:2). The City on the Mount is a symbol of redemption, of paradise retrieved.

^{Mt. Adams, Cincinnati}

HOW TO GO:

The Prints of Benjamin Miller
May 1–July 27, 2018
Marian Library Gallery, seventh floor of Roesch Library
Open 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Monday–Friday

Admission and parking are free; visitor parking passes can be obtained at the visitor parking information center. 

For special arrangements, please call 937-229-4214.