Lilian May Miller was born in Japan in 1895. Her father, Ransford, worked at the American embassy in Tokyo and her mother, Lilly, taught English at the Christian mission. Lilian was a tomboy, encouraged by Ransford's amusing nickname for her: 'Jack.' Ransford enthusiastically embraced his posting in Japan, immersing himself, and his children, in the language and culture. In 1904, at the suggestion of Helen Hyde, Ransford enrolled 9-year-old Lilian in the atelier of Kanô Tomonobu, one of the last Kanô school painting masters. In 1907, she began lessons with a more progressive artist, Shimada Bokusen, who bestowed her with the gô (art name) of Gyokka (Jeweled Flower). Lilian's unique training in Japanese painting came to a halt when her father was transferred back to Washington DC in 1909, and thus, her formative teenage and young adult years would be spent in the US, where she attended Vassar College in NY. Following her graduation in 1917, Miller returned to Asia; her father had taken a temporary position in Japan, and the following year he became the Consulate General in Seoul, Korea. Miller visited Korea and fell in love with it, but returned to Japan to live on her own with the help of a stipend from her parents. By 1920 she was living as the tenant of the formidable Bertha Lum, and had turned to printmaking as a way of supplementing her income. It is presumably thanks to Lum that Miller began to work with the block carver Matsumoto (who had worked for Helen Hyde) and the printer Nishimura Kumakichi, whom Lum had come to rely on completely for her own print productions. Shortly thereafter there was a dramatic falling-out between the two artists, the exact cause is not known, but it seems to stem from some issues regarding artistic integrity. Interestingly, Miller also struggled with a relationship with Elizabeth Keith, who began as a friend but later developed into a rival (See... [https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/japanese_prints_3-19.htm] undefined

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