Henry Miller Research Paper

Henry Miller (1891-1980) is one of the most interesting writers of his time. He is known for being bold and daring in his work. He is known for creating a new style of literary form called semi-autographical. The majority of his novels, and especially his more popular novels are works that involve both fictive aspects and autobiographical elements of Millers own life. Henry Miller is an artist as well, however for most of his artistic career he thought of himself as maybe being an ‘artist’ rather than being an artist. For Miller art was his play and writing his job. One can argue quite easily that his written work and art work can be described similarly. They are both vibrant, bold, daring and striking. Whatever Henry Miller’s work was he was

Beginning in 1928, Miller produced several thousand pieces of artwork in his lifetime. He began with watercolor and stuck with it for his whole life. He also loved creating watercolor lithographs, producing 250-300 copies of one image. Miller also dabbled with etching and silk screen, but he always went back to watercolors. Miller used his love of painting as a stress outlet to reset his mind when he got writers block. Miller gave away his artwork as gifts, never selling his work for profit. He openly admitted that he was not the most gifted or technical artist, but he was arguably “a gifted colorist, and painted fearlessly, uninhibited by his lack of mechanical skill.” (Hoyle, Arthur, 2014) His images are bold and striking. They are fascinating to look at and draws you eye in. Some of his images are fun and quirky, others bold to make a statement, and others sensual. No matter the image Henry Miller has a very distinctive style. As you will come to see Miller has themes and patterns in his artworks that continue to recur and change in variations. Like his written works his artwork is also in a way autobiographical. Many of his images reflect his life and experiences and others are entirely fictive. His artwork is also very reflective of his time in Paris as those images are particularly bold and