Girard’s design for the North Christian Church funeral pall was rejected, and in his letter to Xenia Miller. Girard laments that caskets “will retain their obscene character totally out of place in a beautiful interior space such as that of the North Christian Church.”

Alexander H. Girard to Xenia S. Miller, 23 January 1979, 5/39, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.  (MHG_Ib_B005_f039_005-006)

Based on other materials in the Miller House and Garden Collection, it seems that this biographical sketch of Alexander Girard was put together to prepare people at Cummins Engine for an upcoming visit by Girard. Whoever assembled this bio may have assumed its audience would be familiar with Girard’s commissions in Columbus, Indiana including J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller House, Irwin Union Bank, Washington Street development, and North Christian Church.

Alexander Girard biographical data, 1975, 5/43, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ib_B005_f043_007-008)

This memo caught our eye because it seems Ernest LoNano replaced buttons on the Eames lounge chair by Herman Miller. The firm of Ernest LoNano made the original curtains, bedspreads, and pillows for the Miller House. 

Alexander H. Girard to George Newlin, 30 June 1958, 2/10, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B002_f010_107)

Dick Russell designed the fruitwood chest (MH2010.5) that’s located near the living room fireplace. Russell and Girard were classmates in London.

Letter from Alexander H. Girard to J. Irwin MIller, 13 April 1957, 2/9, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B002_f009_044)

No Detail Too Small. Mr. Miller asks Girard if he has thought about where the pencil sharpener will go on the desk (Item 22-C1) in the Master Bedroom Study. (We’re guessing Girard did not make accommodations for the false teeth and glass eyes.)

Letter from J. Irwin Miller to Alexander H. Girard, 10 August 1955, 33/382, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ic_B033_f382_051-053)

As the annual meeting of the American Institute of Conservation comes to a close, we have one final conservation-related post. The Millers purchased Henry Moore’s Draped Reclining Woman in 1971, and by 1998 the bronze sculpture required treatment. As with any project they undertook, the Millers consulted experts before proceeding with any work. Among those they contacted were the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s Conservation Department, the Henry Moore Foundation, and Venus Bronze Works. (The Miller Estate sold “Henrietta” as she was affectionately called at Christie’s (London) in 2008.)

Photograph of Jim Schmalenberg (Venus Bronze Works) cleaning Henry Moore’s Draped Reclining Woman, 25 August 1998, 11/103; John Farnham to Beverly McDermott, 25 August 1998, 11/104, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Millers hired paintings conservator F. DuPont Cornelius in 1957 to treat an oil painting. Little information about the painting is in the Miller House and Garden Collection. Besides this pair of letters is an invoice from Alexander Girard that gives the source (Roslyn Rosier), a description (Fruit Picture for Dining Room, Oil Painting, Still-Life), and cost ($950, less 20%, plus 40% commission). Cornelius was “Restorer To The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center” and “Conservator, The Art Gallery, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe.”

F. duPont Cornelius to Alexander Girard, 4 November 1957; Alexander Girard to Wanda Henderson, 8 November 1957, 1/7, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B001_f007_091-092)

Although the Millers were told in 1957 that diffused sunlight would not harm varnished oil paintings, conservation research in the 1960s demonstrated it did. The National Gallery of Art’s Ernest R. Feidler wrote to J. Irwin Miller in 1967 and included Robert Feller’s 1964 article “Control of Deteriorating Effects of Light upon Museum Objects” (Museum 17.2: 57–98). Responding to Feller’s conclusions that ultraviolet light damaged art, the National Gallery in partnership with Rohm & Haas Company developed a way to filter ultraviolet light. Rohm & Haas produced a special Plexiglas known as “UF” (ultraviolet filtering) which was installed at the National Gallery of Art and at the Miller House.

Ernest R. Feidler to J. Irwin Miller, 14 June 1967, 29/332, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.

This week the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) is holding its annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana. To welcome the conservators we’re featuring conservation-related documents from the Miller House and Garden Collection. Today’s post is a 1957 letter from Kevin Roche of Eero Saarinen and Associates. With skylights in nearly every room, the Miller House is filled with diffused sunlight, and the Millers were concerned about what effect sunlight would have on paintings, drawings, textiles, and books. Roche consulted with the Detroit Institute of Art and was told that varnished oil paintings would not be harmed by diffused sunlight. (They learn differently in 1967.)

Kevin Roche to J. Irwin Miller, 3 December 1957, 1/7, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B001_f007_043)

In honor of Alexander Girard’s birthday today, we share this 1972 poster advertisement from Herman Miller. Girard designed these graphics for Herman Miller’s Environmental Enrichment program and they were meant to be used within the Action Office system. The images were silkscreened on textile panels, which then could be affixed to a variety of flat surfaces to liven up an otherwise dull office environment.  The designs are one of the last projects Girard did for Herman Miller in their storied 22 year history.

More images of these panels can be found over on the Herman Miller blog.

Herman Miller poster (37 in. x 24 in.), Environmental Enrichment designed by Alexander Girard, 1972, FF71, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.(MHG_III_FF071_001)