George Van Millett

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Millett was instrumental in helping to form the nucleus of the Kansas City Art Institute, and he played a significant role in laying the groundwork for launching the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. From tranquil landscapes to finely observed portraits and Impressionistic cityscapes, Millett painted what he knew and loved. He was the only painter of note who had devoted his work exclusively to Missouri subjects since George Caleb Bingham.  PLEASE SCROLL FOR MORE.......</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#777777" FACE="Garamond" ><B><IMG SRC="16d8904a0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="586" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="6" VSPACE="0"></B></FONT><I>Born in Kansas City on April 5, 1864, George Van Horn Millett was named after Robert Van Horn, founder and editor of the </I><I>Kansas City Journal</I><I> as well as a Kansas City mayor, congressman and Civil War militia leader. Although his father attempted to create a niche for him in the family printing business, Millett was unchallenged by the prospect of that confinement. He had the eye and heart of a painter, envisioning art in almost everything. “I always see pictures in firelight, in the sky, in clouds and in shadows,” he once said.Family lore has it that a resigned Henry Millett asked his son how he would like to study art in Europe, to which Van Millett replied that if given a chance, he would leave the following day. “Go and buy a trunk,” ordered his father. “You start tomorrow.”</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>Millett studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, from 1886 - 1890. He later returned to Europe for a year of travel and study. He spent most of 1893 in Holland, where he developed a fondness for the Dutch landscape. Millett returned permanently to Kansas City late in 1893, determined to paint the beauty of his home state. By 1896, Millett was a founder and the first president of the Paint Club. Millett worked to combine that organization with the Sketch Club, eventually forming the Kansas City Art Club. Millett exhibited his work locally, and as a member of the prestigious Society of Western Artists, he exhibited in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Louis.  </I></div> <bR> <div> <I>For more than thirty years, he was curator of the collections of William Rockhill Nelson, editor of the </I><I>Kansas City Star</I><I> and a prominent civic leader. Nelson's group of copies of Old Master works was an integral part of the Western Gallery of Art, which later formed the nucleus of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.   Millett’s other roles at the Western Gallery of Art included presenting various exhibitions of American paintings, assembling and arranging the work of artists that included such American luminaries as Mary Cassatt and William Merritt Chase.  The 1930s would, at long last, see the founding of Kansas City’s renowned Nelson Gallery of Art.   The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art officially opened on Dec. 11, 1933.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>In 1945, the Kansas City Star captured the 81-year-old Millett at work, still spending six mornings a week at his easel in a studio that overflowed with paintings.  Millett would continue to paint until his death in Kansas City on Jan. 15, 1953. He was Missouri’s own, a native who returned by choice. Generations of collectors will acknowledge that Millett’s lifelong goal of awakening others to the unique beauty of the Heartland was realized. Far more importantly, his work compares favorably with that of the Continental painters who inspired his art. Millett showcases America at its epicenter, caught at a pivotal time in its history. </I></div> <bR> <div> <I><IMG SRC="16d90c230.jpg" border=0 width="780" height="547" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="16d658190.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="537" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>