John C. Miles (1837-1911)
John C. Miles (1837-1911)
John Christopher Miles was considered a talented artist by his 19th century peers, though only a few signed examples of his work can be found and little is known of his background. Born in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, in 1837, Miles began his formal education at the Lowell Institute in Boston before studying privately with Benjamin Champney (1817-1907). He lived just north of Boston in Malden, Massachusetts, but kept a studio in the city, and joined and exhibited with the Boston Art Club for many years beginning in 1874. Like his mentor, Miles was drawn to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and these pastoral landscapes were shown at the Boston Art Club before the artist moved home to New Brunswick around 1877. There he ran the St. John Academy of Art from 1885 to 1896, and became an associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy. Miles passed away in St. John in 1911. Today his work can be found in the collections of the McCord Museum in Montreal, Canada, and the New Brunswick Museum in St. John.
References: Falk, Who Was Who in American Art, 1999; Campbell, Catherine H., with Marcia Schmidt Blaine, New Hampshire Scenery (Canaan, New Hampshire: Phoenix Publishing, published for the New Hampshire Historical Society, 1985).