Archibald Herman Muller
Archibald Herman Müller (born March 11, 1878, in Cochin in the Southern Indian state of Kerala), was an artist of realistic paintings and one of India's early 20th Century great talents.
Müller was born of German parentage, and lived and worked in India. He joined the Madras School of Art and received early recognition. He won the Gold Medal at Madras School of Art. After completing his education, he worked with his brother in his photography studio for some time.
Müller went to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1911, then considered the haven of Art in India. He won the Gold Medal from the Bombay Art Society in the same year. He travelled a lot through Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and in the Himalayas, enjoying the patronage of various royal families of the time. His paintings included landscapes, portraits and scenes from the life of the Maharajas (Kings), historical subjects and incidents from the Indian Hindu epics - the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. His paintings have been acquired by the Buckingham Palace, London, the South Kensington Museum (now known as the Victoria and Albert Museum). Few also exist in the collections of the Museums at Sangli, Maharashtra Bikaner, Rajasthan, the Jodhpur Fort and the Royal Palace at Jaipur. His paintings are much sought after and have surfaced in various auctions in recent years.
Müller died in 1960 at the Gandhi Hospital in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
His children moved from India in the 1950s and 1960s. Two daughters moved to the UK, Gwendalene Ellen and Winnifred Rose and his son Archibald Hermann Müller (known as Hermann), to Australia in 1967. Many individuals from succeeding generations of his family have proved to be talented artists and writers, with some exhibiting nationally and internationally. One of his daughters, Gwen Raven (deceased June 2012) lived in Prestatyn, North Wales, was an artist and auctioned many of her paintings off for charity. Winnie also in North Wales continues to paint to this day at 84 years of age. Son, Hermann, inspired by his father's paintings at an early age, expresses his creative talents as an author, and having studied the bodymind connection founded Psychosomatic Therapy and developed the Psychosomatic Therapy Process which is taught in many countries. Hermann resides on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Highly accomplished contemporary artist Charlotte Mcgowan-Griffin, born in London and based in Berlin is a great granddaughter of A H Müller.
References
- Book: Artist A. H. Muller and His Art
- Goa Art Gallery
- Art and Nationalism in Colonial India, 1850 - 1922 by Partha Mitter, Page 96