Around Town: Acclaimed artist called La Cañada home

If your kid comes home from high school and says she doesn’t want to be a doctor, blame it on the water.

If your kid comes home from Pinkberry and says he doesn’t want to be a lawyer, blame it on the air.

La Cañada is a breeding ground for artists.

Did you know that a La Cañadan was an innovator in the field of California art?

That he spent World War II painting the troops?

That he participated in the Pacific landings and was wounded?

The artist was Barse Miller.

Miller was an East Coast transplant who made La Cañada his home, at least for a while. Let’s claim him nonetheless.

According to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, “Barse Miller was one of Southern California’s most important artists, contributing significantly to the development of the California watercolor school.”

Plus, he was from La Cañada.

Miller grew up in a literary family. As a child, he studied at the National Academy of Design in New York. As a young adult, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, traveled to Paris and exhibited at the 1923 Salon d’automne (”Autumn Salon”).

The Salon d’automne is an annual art exhibition held in Paris since 1903. It was created as a reaction against the traditional Paris Salon by “modern” artists like Henri Matisse. The traditionalists didn’t like the Impressionists. Matisse and others started the Salon d’automne as a way to exhibit their work.

Miller eventually returned to the U.S., but he skipped the East Coast and made a beeline to Los Angeles.

Why not? California had the beaches, Hollywood, Yosemite and Palm Springs.

Miller settled down with his wife, Mary, and began a family life. Their first place was at 828 Lucerne, in Los Angeles, but by 1933, the Millers moved to Santa Inez Way in La Cañada. Barse and Mary were listed in the local directories. Barse listed his occupation as “painter” or “artist.”

He continued to teach, travel and paint. He painted the coast. He painted Yosemite. He painted the deserts.

But then, the Pearl Harbor attack took place. LIFE magazine hired Miller to sketch the troops. The May 11, 1942 issue featured “Barse Miller’s soldiers.” The piece said, “To record this phase of the U.S. war effort, LIFE commissioned Barse Miller of La Cañada, Calif., whose watercolors are noted for their rugged solidity.”

LIFE also reported that “Miller painted mountain patrols where his paint water continually froze.”

Within the year, Miller faced tougher conditions. He was deployed to the Pacific as War Art Unit. He was wounded. He continued to sketch.

After the war, the Millers moved to Carmel Road in La Cañada. In 1946, Miller listed his occupation in the local directory as “major,” but in later years, it was “artist.”

Haunted by the war, Barse and Mary eventually divorced. She kept the house and raised the children. Barse Miller left. He continued to teach and to work, but not in La Cañada.

Barse Miller died in Mazatlan, Mexico in 1973.

Anyway, if your son or daughter comes home from college and says, “Mom, Dad, I want to change my major. I want to study art,” blame La Cañada Flintridge. It’s an artists’ town.

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ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Contact her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com. Follow her on Instagram @realanitabrenner, Facebook and on Twitter @anitabrenner.