Reuben Aaron Miller (American, 1912-2006). Mammoth and Chicken. Marker on board, n.d. Both signed in lower left corners. A playful pair of drawings by American outsider/folk artist Reuben Aaron Miller, each featuring colorful drawings of animals beneath the words "LORD LOVE YOU." The larger of the 2 displays a woolly mammoth striding left beneath a flying blue bird, all atop a white-painted ground, while its verso shows the start of a sketch of 2 snowmen. Alternatively, the more petite piece is painted yellow and features the image of a chicken with a prominent red head and a fluffy tail. Size of larger: 17" L x 15.2" W (43.2 cm x 38.6 cm)

According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, "R. A. Miller, a resident of Rabbittown, an unincorporated community north of Gainesville, was one of the state's enduring self-taught artists, noted for his 'whirligigs,' or metal cutout figures, and drawings, which typically feature animal or human figures and short inspirational messages. The best of his flat cutouts and drawn figures recall the expressive economy of such self-taught artists as Bill Traylor of Alabama." Though Miller began as a cotton mill worker and preacher, he began to make whirligigs when his chronic eye problems started to limit his other activities. He gained widespread fame in 1984 after the band REM filmed the 20-minute video "Left of Reckoning" (dir. James Herbert) among Miller's whirligigs.

Provenance: ex-private Bishop Family Trust collection, the Trust of the late Bill Bishop, a noted antiquarian with shops in Scottsdale, Arizona and Allenspark, Colorado, USA, acquired before 2010

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#173796

Signature of artist in lower left corners of both. Abrasion to lower periphery of chicken drawing. Larger piece shows remains of another image behind white paint of background and sketches on verso. Otherwise, both are in excellent overall condition.