Chickens

Description

Attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before and after the First World War, Miller described himself as “conspicuously absent—I wasn’t a good student.” Yet Miller continued to develop his artistic abilities, working in a variety of media such as sculpture, stained glass, painting, woodcarving, and tile. Despite this versatility, however, Miller wrote in 1936 that he was “just barely beginning to find [himself].” This painting was awarded the Watson F. Blair Purchase Prize in 1934 at the 13th Exhibition of Watercolors, Pastels, Drawings, and Monotypes, and the work entered the Art Institute’s collection. Chicago Tribune art critic Eleanor Jewett described this work in her exhibition review as an “Impression-istic Easter card.”

Chickens

Edgar Miller

1933

Accession Number

18579

Medium

Gouache with incising and fingerprints, on masonite, prepared with a white ground

Dimensions

50.9 × 60.9 cm (20 1/16 × 24 in.)

Classification

watercolor

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Watson F. Blair Purchase Prize