R.A.D. Miller on his boat, the Beauchamp, photo by Celia Marshall Miller, 1932. Courtesy of the Miller Family

Robert Alexander Darrah Miller painted landscapes, portraits, and still lifes in the traditional styles of American regionalism and realism. Born in Philadelphia, Miller studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Daniel Garber from 1923 to 1927. There he became close friends with fellow Academy student, Robert Hogue. Miller moved to Bucks County in 1928 and married Celia Belden Marshall, the daughter of the former owner of Phillips Mill. Although Miller exhibited at Phillips Mill, he identified with local modernists and became an original member of first, the New Group, later called the Independents. He exhibited with them in New Hope and Philadelphia throughout the 1930s.

In 1936, Miller completed a mural panel at the Stockton Inn (formerly Colligan's Hotel) in Stockton, New Jersey. Miller resided in New Hope until he took his own life in 1966, at the age of 61.

Some of Miller's finest work has been assembled in the exhibition, An Independant Spirit: The Art and Life of R.A.D. Miller, on view at the James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 2009.