John M. Miller, a painter of rigorous perceptual abstractions whose work was featured in a special exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum in 2000, died Wednesday after a brief illness. Miller was stricken Friday during appointments at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Los Angeles, according to Lisa Lyons, an independent curator and longtime friend of the artist. He was 77. Miller was a painter of meticulous abstract geometries. His painstaking canvases built on a tradition of secular spirituality that is a hallmark of 20th century nonfigurative painting. For the Getty Museum’s acclaimed exhibition Departures, Lyons invited 11 artists to make work in response to anything they selected from the permanent collection of ancient, medieval, Renaissance, old master and early modern European art. Miller chose a 500-year-old prayer book. Facing pages of Jean Fouquet’s richly illuminated Hours of Simon de Varie, made in France in 1455, juxtapose a kneeling portrait of a young nobleman, newly installed at the royal treasury under Charles VII, with a regal Virgin Mary and infant Jesus, who are seated on an imposing throne. In response, Miller made 3 large abstract paintings: Prophecy, Sanctum and Atonement. Inspiration, a place of solitude and humility — the titles of Miller’s deeply contemplative canvases identify the profound abstract qualities his work shares with Fouquet’s figurative imagery. Central to Miller’s concerns was the intimacy of the encounter between a viewer and a work of art. Fouquet’s small paintings adorn a private book used for individual prayer, while also depicting De Varie’s personal devotion to the Virgin and Child. Miller’s 3 large works, each assembled from multiple panels, were installed on 3 long walls of a large gallery. The environment evoked a traditional triptych format used for centuries in spiritually minded publicly displayed... (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-me-john-miller-obituary-20161130-htmlstory.html) undefined

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