Woman Smoking, Chicago, Illinois
1946
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 34.1 × 27 cm (13 7/16 × 10 5/8 in.) sheet: 35.2 × 28 cm (13 7/8 × 11 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Wayne F. Miller Family
Accession Number
2021.89.4
Art Historical Context
**Woman Smoking, Chicago, Illinois** (1946) is a compelling gelatin silver print by American photographer Wayne Miller, who masterfully documented mid-20th-century life. Captured just after World War II, this intimate black-and-white image (34.1 × 27 cm) freezes a moment in bustling Chicago, showcasing Miller's documentary style rooted in photojournalism. Gelatin silver prints, popular in this era, excel in their wide tonal range and fine detail, making them ideal for evoking the grit and humanity of urban scenes. Miller, fresh from photographing the Pacific theater for the U.S. Navy, shifted...
About the Artist
Wayne Miller
Wayne Miller (1918–2013) was an American documentary photographer whose long career brought him into contact with some of the most consequential events and social transformations of the twentieth century. Born in Chicago, he studied photography with Edward Steichen after serving as a Navy combat photographer during World War II — an experience that shaped his abiding commitment to photography as a...