Wayne Forest Miller (September 19, 1918 – May 22, 2013) was an American photographer known for his series of photographs ''The Way of Life of the Northern Negro''. Active as a photographer from 1942 until 1975, he was a contributor to

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

beginning in 1958.

Early life

Miller was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

., the son of a doctor and a nurse, who gave him a camera as a high school graduation present. He went on to study banking at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, while also working on the side as a photographer. From 1941 to 1942 he studied at the Art Centre School of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Career

War photographer

Miller then served as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

where he was assigned to

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

's World War II

Naval Aviation Photographic Unit The Naval Aviation Photographic UnitFaram, Mark D. (2009), ''Faces of War: The Untold Story of Edward Steichen's WWII Photographers,'' Berkeley Caliber, New York, New York, was a group of military photographers in the United States Navy during t ...

. He was among the first Western photographers to document the destruction at

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

Chicago

After the war he resettled in Chicago. He won two consecutive

Guggenheim fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

s in 1946-1948, with which he worked on ''The Way of Life of the Northern Negro''. These images were published in his book ''Chicago's South Side, 1946-1948''. This project documented the wartime migration of

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s northward, specifically looking at the black community on the south side of Chicago, covering all the emotions in daily life. The people depicted are mostly ordinary people, but some celebrities appear, such as

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

and

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

Publication and recognition

Miller taught at the Institute of Design in Chicago before commissioning a Modernist house for their growing family from architect Mario Corbett in

Orinda, California Orinda is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city's population as of the 2020 census is estimated at 19,514 residents. History Orinda is located within four Mexican land grants: Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados ...

in 1953. He was freelancing for ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' and with his wife Joan also worked with

as an associate curator for ''

The Family of Man ''The Family of Man'' was an ambitious exhibition of 503 photography, photographs from 68 countries curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the New York City Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) Department of Photography. According to Steichen, ...

'' exhibition and accompanying book which opened at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in 1955. Steichen selected eight of Miller's photographs, including two of the birth of the photographer's son, for the show which traveled the world and was seen by more than 9 million visitors. Grumman TBF wounded crew Nov 1943

Miller provided the photographs for ''A Baby's First Year'' (1956) with

Benjamin Spock Benjamin McLane Spock (May 2, 1903 – March 15, 1998) was an American pediatrician and left-wing political activist whose book '' Baby and Child Care'' (1946) is one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century, selling 500,000 copie ...

and John B. Reinhart. Undertaking a three-year project inspired by ''The Family of Man'', he intensively photographed his own family. The resulting book ''The World is Young'' was published in 1958 and appeared as a 10-page picture essay i
LIFE
(13 Oct 1958). Miller was a contract photographer for ''

'' and served as president of

from 1962-1966. Miller was a longtime member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers and was named chairman in 1954. In 2000 Miller was awarded Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism,

Missouri School of Journalism The Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia is one of the oldest formal journalism schools in the world. The school provides academic education and practical training in all areas of journalism and strategic comm ...

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

, Columbia, MO

Environmentalism

In 1970 Miller joined the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

as executive director of the Public Broadcasting Environmental Centre. After his retirement from photography in 1975, he co-founded the Forest Landowners of California organisation and worked to protect California's forests, in particular fighting tax laws that encouraged the felling of redwoods.

Death and legacy

Miller died on May 22, 2013, at his home in Orinda, California, age 94, survived by his wife of 70 years, the former Joan Baker (January 21, 1921 – March 7, 2014), and four children.

Collections

The Wayne Miller Archive is held at the

Center for Creative Photography The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona's Tucson campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American pho ...

(University of Arizona). MIller's work is also held in the permanent collections of the

Museum of Fine Arts Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

, the

Smart Museum of Art The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art is an art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. The permanent collection has over 15,000 objects. Admission is free and open to the general public. The Smart Muse ...

, the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, and the

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in December 2003 and opened its permanent home in ...

Bibliography

Books by Wayne Miller: *''A Baby's First Year.'' New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1956. With text by

and John B. Reinhart. *''The World is Young.'' New York: Ridge Press, 1958. *''Chicago's South Side: 1946–1948.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. . *''At Ease: Navy Men of World War II''. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2004. . By Evan Bachner. With work by Miller,

Horace Bristol Horace Bristol (November 16, 1908 – August 4, 1997) was a twentieth-century American photographer, best known for his work in ''Life.'' His photos appeared in ''Time, Fortune, Sunset,'' and '' National Geographic'' magazines. Early life Br ...

Victor Jorgensen Victor Jorgensen (July 8, 1913 – June 14, 1994) was a former Navy photo journalist who probably is most notable for taking an instantly iconic photograph of an impromptu scene in Manhattan on August 14, 1945, but from a different angle and in ...

, and Barrett Gallagher. *''Chicago Photographs: LaSalle Bank Photography Collection.'' Chicago, Ill.: LaSalle Bank, 2004. . By Carol Ehlers. Includes work by Miller. Books about Wayne Miller * Light, Ken. "Wayne Miller: World War II and The Family of Man". In Ken Light, ''Witness in Our Time: Working Lives of Documentary Photographers.'' Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000. ; . *''Wayne F. Miller: Photographs 1942-1958''. Brooklyn, NY: Powerhouse Books, 2008. .

References

External links

Magnum Photos biographyUniversity of California Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Wayne F. 1918 births 2013 deaths Gies College of Business alumni American photographers Magnum photographers Photography in Japan United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of World War II Artists from Chicago Life (magazine) photojournalists War photographers People from Orinda, California Military personnel from California Military personnel from Illinois