Wayne Miller
Vintage silver prints
WAYNE MILLER
“After School” Chicago, 1948, silver print,
ca. 1948, 11 5/16 x 10 1/2, Signed.
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WAYNE MILLER
“Anti-Lynching Demonstration” Chicago, 1947,
silver print, ca. 1940s, 13 3/8 x 10 1/2, Signed.
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WAYNE MILLER
“Boy and Newel Post”, 1948, silver print, ca.
1940s, 13 3/8 x 10 5/8, Signed.
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WAYNE MILLER
“Boy Delivering Kindling”, 1946, silver print,
ca. 1940s, 12 x 10 1/2, Signed.
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WAYNE MILLER
“Children Watching Movie”, 1947, silver print,
ca. 1940s, 13 3/8 x 10 5/8, Signed.
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WAYNE MILLER
“Chorus Girls Backstage at the Rum Boogie Club”,
1946, silver print, ca. 1940s, 10 1/2 x 10 1/2, Signed.
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WAYNE MILLER
“Eartha Kitt (center) Leading a Dance Troupe Rehearsing for the Chez Paree”,
1948, silver print, ca. 1940s, 10 3/4 x 10 5/8, Signed.
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WAYNE MILLER
“Fighter and Trainer”, 1947, silver print, ca.
1940s, 11 5/8 x 10 5/8.
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More Photos
By WAYNE MILLER Page 1
Page 2
Wayne Miller, American, 1918-
Shortly before the end of the second world war Wayne Miller
was awarded a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation to photograph "The Way of
Life of the Northern Negro". A new book of these photographs entitled Chicago's
South Side, 1946-1948 has just been published, and the vintage photographs
will be shown at the Lee Gallery in March and April.
A large number of African Americans had migrated from the South to the North
during the war, and Miller focused on the African American community of his
hometown on the South Side of Chicago. Miller was eager to create photographs
that would depict what he refers to as "universal truths" in order to help
people of all races come together and see that we are not all that different.
He once said, "we may differ in race, color, language, wealth, and politics.
But look at what we all have in common - dreams, laughter, tears, pride, the
comfort of home, the hunger for love".
Throughout this body of work Miller clearly portrays all of these qualities
through his moving and poignant images. In the faces of his subjects one gets
a sense of fear, despair, joy and hope. From the photographs of patrons laughing
and dancing at the 45th Street bar to a jubilant bride after her wedding,
Miller captures moments of happiness in a community often encumbered by hard
times. Along with these images of hope and joy there are also the ones that
reflect the worries and troubles of individuals in their daily lives. Images,
such as the photograph of a wife holding the family's bills and the husband
sits with a drink in his hand, or the image in which a mother stands with
her back to the camera as she looks out of a window and wonders how she is
going to support her newborn alone.
These black and white images of the South Side of Chicago from 50 years ago tell a story of everyday life within a tight knit community. Through his photographs Miller brings the viewer into the lives of his subjects in hopes of portraying the simple fact that then, as well as now, we all have the same needs, desires, hopes and dreams.
Wayne Miller was a member of Edward Steichen's World War II U.S. Navy Combat
Photo Unit, an associate curator for the famous The Family of Man exhibit
and book at New York's Museum of Modern Art, a contract photographer for Life magazine,
and a member and former president of Magnum Photos. He also coauthored Baby's
First Year with Dr. Spock, and authored The World is Young.
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 Email us at: w@leegallery.com
Member of The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD)
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